The graphs that expose Keir Starmer’s failure to ‘stop the boats’

After ten months in office, Keir Starmer has promised to ‘finally take back control’ of migration – but what’s his record so far? We don’t yet have the key figure for net migration (that’s due in ten days’ time), but other more timely data shows that the Prime Minister is failing to live up to promises he made before the election.

This failure is most obvious on small boats. Starmer said he would ‘smash the gangs’ to stop small boat crossings. It hasn’t worked: record numbers are crossing the Channel. Some 11,574 people have made the journey so far this year, 25 per cent more than in the same period last year. Since the general election, just under 35,000 small boat migrants have arrived.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced this weekend that the health and care worker visa will be closed to reduce the number of low-skilled and care workers coming to the country by 50,000 over the next year.