Can we trust the Tories on immigration? An interview with Chris Philp, shadow home secretary
Coffee House Shots
The Spectator
4.4 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 14 February 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On legal migration, their proposal includes plans to end worklessness in order to stop the reliance on low-paid migrant workers. And on illegal migration, the line is ‘zero tolerance’ on small boats, including a removals deterrent much like the Rwanda plan, as well as other changes to the legal framework. One of the more controversial elements of their strategy is on citizenship. The Tories want to increase the period before migrants can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to ten years, and after that, it will take a further five years – rather than 12 months – to achieve British citizenship.
Which safe and legal pathways would people be able to use? How would the Conservatives ensure that the ‘best and the brightest’ are allowed in?
Produced by Natasha Feroze and Oscar Edmondson.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We are very pleased to announce the full line-up for our Coffee House Shots live event on the 26th |
| 0:04.8 | February at the Emanuel Centre in Westminster. Join Coffee House Shots regulars, Michael Gove, |
| 0:10.1 | Casey Balls, Kate Andrews, as well as very special guests, Robert Jenrick and Jonathan Ashworth |
| 0:15.0 | for a look to the year ahead. They will be tackling such questions as, can the Chancellor |
| 0:19.9 | reframe the budget in her first spring statement? |
| 0:22.1 | What will Trump's first 100 days look like? |
| 0:24.6 | And will reform cause an upset at the local elections? |
| 0:27.3 | So that's Emmanuel Centre, 7.30, 26th of February. |
| 0:30.8 | And for tickets, go to spectator.com.com.com. |
| 0:33.2 | We look forward to seeing you there. |
| 0:40.3 | Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, the Spectator's Daily Politics Podcast. |
| 0:44.4 | I'm Kate Andrews and I'm joined by the Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp. Chris, great to see you. |
| 0:49.2 | Kate, thank you for the invitation. It's good to be here. Yeah, thanks for coming in. |
| 0:53.3 | I want to start by asking you what now the Conservative Party's philosophy is on immigration? |
| 1:01.2 | Before we get into Labor's Bill, before we get into your new plans for visas, how would you |
| 1:06.6 | sum up the Tories' philosophy on this very crucial public policy point? |
| 1:12.1 | Well, let me start with legal migration. We've seen in the past numbers that have been far, far too high, including |
| 1:18.4 | people coming here with low levels of skill, earning low wages. Now, the view we take that that is |
| 1:24.8 | no longer acceptable. It's completely wrong. And we would like to pivot away from mass, low-skilled migration towards much, much lower numbers of people with very high levels of skill who can earn high salaries and actually add value to our economy in fields like finance, IT, scientific research, and so on. |
| 1:46.4 | You know, recent analysis has shown that low wage migration is actually a cost to the taxpayer |
| 1:52.3 | because people coming here on low wages end up consuming more in public services, if you |
| 1:57.2 | include their dependence particularly than they pay in tax. It's actually bad for the economy. It's bad for taxpayers. And of course, at the same time, we've got nine million people here in the UK who are of working age, but not working. Now, some of those people, of course, have caring responsibilities, or they might be studying, but millions of people could be working, and we'd rather get them into work instead of importing low-skill migrant labour. |
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