Michaela and Nando get together to discuss the UK's Labour Government 2025 promise to restore control over immigration by reducing net migration. The resonance with Brexit rhetoric couldn't be clearer in the language and narrative surrounding this. Yet, Brexit remains the elephant in the room. They reflect on several key elements of the paper: health and social care visas, shifts in qualification levels and income requirements, student visas and e-visas. As their conversation highlights, the new immigration plan embeds further the criminalisation of certain migrants—and seeks new ways to do so—while offering no reflection on the absence of safe routes. From the announcements that surrounded the paper to the plans for reforming who can come to the UK and on what terms, what they reveal is the continuing significance of the far right anti-immigration politics in shaping the migration regime in Britain today.

You can access the full transcripts for each episode over on our website Who do we think we are?

In this episode we cover …

1 2025 White Paper 'Restoring Control over the Immigration System'

2 Brexit and migration

3 Net migration

Seminar questions

1. What does the term 'island of strangers' signal to you?

2. What are some of the main changes that the Labour Government are planning to make to the immigration system?

3. Why might it be important that we think about Brexit when considering migration to the UK in 2025?

Find out more about …

The immigration white paper

Listen to ..

Us talking on The Conversation's podcast about how EU leaders want to copy the Rwanda Plan

Our episode with Migrant Rights' Network's Fizza Qureshi on 'safe routes' and the Rwanda Plan

Nando's podcast Mobility, Work and Rights

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