Conservative party conference 2015: Theresa May to announce plans for anti-immigration crackdown
Home secretary Theresa May will harden her anti-immigrant rhetoric today, saying that mass immigration has harmed society.
Speaking at the Conservative party conference in Manchester this morning, May is expected to say that there is "no case in the national interest for immigration of the scale we have experienced over the last decade".
"When immigration is too high, when the pace of change is too fast, it’s impossible to build a cohesive society," she will say. "It’s difficult for schools and hospitals and core infrastructure like housing and transport to cope."
The home secretary is also set to announce that the government will no longer let European Union nationals make asylum claims in the UK.
The change in policy will mark just the latest government move to reduce net migration. After the General Election in May, Prime Minister David Cameron said that he wanted to look into ways to cut skilled migration to the UK from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) – a proposal that has drawn sharp criticism from business leaders.
Just last week the London First business group warned the Home Office against tightening rules for employing foreign workers, saying that “closing the door to international talent is a clear threat to London’s status as a world-leading global talent hub”.