The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has caused a stir with the release of his White Paper on immigration, Restoring Control over the Immigration System.

The story has apparently gone under the radar in Australia, but it should not have. In short, the White Paper sets out the Labour government’s plans to rein in levels of net migration (Starmer said he wants to ‘reduce immigration significantly’) and reform the immigration system so that it better serves both the interests of Britons who are already there along with the public services, economy, and society they rely on.

The foreword to the White Paper, penned by Starmer, reads:

‘In 2023, under the previous government, inward migration exploded to over a million people a year – four times the level compared with 2019. This was a political choice that was never put before the British people… Britain became a one-nation experiment in open borders.’

‘The damage this has done to our country is incalculable,’ Starmer wrote. ‘Public services and housing access have been placed under too much pressure. Our economy has been distorted by perverse incentives to import workers rather than invest in our own skills.’

Net migration into the United Kingdom has been very high in recent years. Net migration into Australia has been even higher. The chart below compares the level of net migration into each country, measured as the number of net migrants per 1,000 residents in mid-2019.

On this measure, net migration into the UK peaked at 14 per 1,000 residents. In Australia, it peaked at 22 per 1,000 residents.

This is why Australians should be paying attention to what is happening in the UK. Starmer’s White Paper is, I believe, the first time in recent years that the mainstream political left have been willing to engage on the topic of immigration. Some may say that this has only happened because of the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.

It may be that this is true, but it does not change the fact that Starmer has shown a willingness to engage in the debate. When Anthony Albanese was asked last month how he would describe Australia’ migration system, he said ‘balanced’.

In his speech launching the White Paper, Starmer said that those who ‘defend the status quo’ were ‘not championing growth’ and ‘not championing justice’, but ‘actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart’.

On the election campaign recently, Albanese said: ‘Elections come and go, do you know what stays? Our commitment to multiculturalism… I want us to be a microcosm for the world … and be enriched by our diversity.’

Concerns about high levels of migration and their effects on things like social cohesion, house prices, and public infrastructure were dismissed by Albanese who said that net migration ‘was always going to be high when borders were closed for years’. It was just ‘a spike’, Albanese said.

To which Starmer may have replied directly, as he said in his speech, ‘I don’t think you can do something like that by accident. It was a choice.’

It is hard to imagine Anthony Albanese (or Peter Dutton, or Sussan Ley) taking the issue this seriously. As an Australian, it was shocking to read Starmer’s speech because of the maturity and the frankness with which he discussed the problems that can (and have) come from high levels of migration.

Australian politicians will no doubt have to deal with this issue at some point. It would be better for everyone if they did so straightforwardly and honestly. I’ve included Starmer’s speech below, which is well worth reading. Let it be a guide for Australia’s political class.

Good morning.

Today, we publish a White Paper on immigration, a strategy that is absolutely central to my Plan for Change. This strategy will finally take back control of our borders and close the book on a squalid chapter for our politics, our economy, and our country.

‘Take back control.’ Everyone knows that slogan and what it meant for immigration, or at least that’s what people thought. Because what followed from the previous Government, starting with the people who used that slogan, was the complete opposite. Between 2019 and 2023, even as they were going around our country telling people, with a straight face, they would get immigration down, net migration quadrupled. Until in 2023, it reached nearly 1 million, which is about the population of Birmingham, our second largest city. That’s not control – it’s chaos.

And look, they must answer for themselves, but I don’t think you can do something like that by accident. It was a choice. A choice made even as they told you, told the country, they were doing the opposite. A one-nation experiment in open borders conducted on a country that voted for control. Well, no more. Today, this [political content redacted] government is shutting down the lab. The experiment is over. We will deliver what you have asked for – time and again – and we will take back control of our borders.

And let me tell you why. Because I know, on a day like today, people who like politics will try to make this all about politics, about this or that strategy, targeting these voters, responding to that party. No. I am doing this because it is right, because it is fair, and because it is what I believe in.

Let me put it this way: nations depend on rules – fair rules. Sometimes they’re written down, often they’re not, but either way, they give shape to our values. They guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to one another. Now, in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important. Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers, not a nation that walks forward together.

So when you have an immigration system that seems almost designed to permit abuse, that encourages some businesses to bring in lower-paid workers rather than invest in our young people, or simply one that is sold by politicians to the British people on an entirely false premise, then you’re not championing growth, you’re not championing justice, or however else people defend the status quo. You’re actually contributing to the forces that are slowly pulling our country apart.

So yes, I believe in this. I believe we need to reduce immigration significantly. That’s why some of the policies in this White Paper go back nearly three years, [political content redacted]. It’s about fairness.

Migration is part of Britain’s national story. We talked last week about the great rebuilding of this country after the war; migrants were part of that, and they make a massive contribution today. You will never hear me denigrate that. But when people come to our country, they should also commit to integration, to learning our language, and our system should actively distinguish between those that do and those that don’t. I think that’s fair.

Equally, Britain must compete for the best talent in the world in science, in technology, in healthcare. You cannot simply pull up a drawbridge, let nobody in, and think that is an economy that would work. That would hurt the pay packets of working people – without question. But at the same time, we do have to ask why parts of our economy seem almost addicted to importing cheap labour rather than investing in the skills of people who are here and want a good job in their community. Sectors like engineering, where visas have rocketed while apprenticeships have plummeted. Is that fair to Britain? Is it fair to young people weighing up their future to miss out on those apprenticeships, to see colleges in their community almost entirely dedicated to one-year courses for overseas students? No, I don’t think it is. And truth be told, I don’t think anyone does. And yet that is the Britain this broken system has created.

So, as this White Paper sets out, every area of the immigration system – work, family, and study – will be tightened up so we have more control. Skill requirements raised to degree level. English language requirements across all routes – including for dependents. The time it takes to acquire settled status extended from five years to ten. And enforcement tougher than ever because fair rules must be followed.

Now, make no mistake – this plan means migration will fall. That’s a promise. But I want to be very clear on this. If we do need to take further steps, if we do need to do more to release pressure on housing and our public services, then mark my words – we will. But it’s not just about numbers. Because the chaos of the previous government also changed the nature of immigration in this country. Fewer people who make a strong economic contribution, more who work in parts of our economy that put downward pressure on wages. So perhaps the biggest shift in this White Paper is that we will finally honour what ‘take back control’ meant and begin to choose who comes here so that migration works for our national interest.

You know, this is where the whole debate is skewed, as if some people think controlling immigration is reining in a sort of natural freedom rather than a basic and reasonable responsibility of government to make choices that work for a nation’s economy. For years, this seems to have muddled our thinking, but let me be clear – it ends now. We will create a migration system that is controlled, selective, and fair. A clean break with the past that links access to visas directly to investment in homegrown skills so that if a business wants to bring people in from abroad, they must first invest in Britain. But also, so settlement becomes a privilege that is earned, not a right, easier if you make a contribution, if you work, pay in, and help rebuild our country.

Now, some people may even be against that, but I think for the vast majority of people in this country, that is what they have long wanted to see. An immigration system that is fair, that works for our national interest, and that restores common sense and control to our borders. That is what this White Paper will deliver: lower net migration, higher skills, backing British workers, the start of repairing our social contract, which the chaos and cynicism of the last government did so much to undermine.

Thank you.