Net migration has fallen by 82 per cent under the current government, Sir Keir Starmer declared as he mounted a robust defence of his administration’s record on border control and turned his fire on the leader of Reform UK.
Migration figures
Speaking in Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said he was “very proud” that after net migration reached almost one million under the previous Conservative government, Labour had brought it down sharply. He pointed to record levels of asylum decisions, a reduced backlog, a 41 per cent increase in removals, and the closure of asylum hotels. Small boat crossings, he claimed, are now falling, and 70,000 people with no right to be in the UK have been deported.
The Home Office later confirmed that by November 2025 the asylum backlog was 47 per cent lower than its peak, and removals had reached more than 48,000 in the 12 months to October 2025. Sir Keir also signalled his ambition to close asylum hotels sooner than the end of the current parliamentary term.
The government’s wider immigration reforms were set out in a white paper titled “Restoring Control over the Immigration System”, published in May 2025. The document proposed doubling the qualifying period for settlement to ten years, raising the skill requirements for skilled worker visas, and closing the care worker visa route to overseas recruitment.
The prime minister’s defence came after Lee Anderson, the Reform UK MP for Ashfield, accused Labour of losing control of the borders. Anderson pointed to a case in his constituency where four illegal migrants, including a Pakistani national later convicted of rape and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment, were housed in shared accommodation. He demanded that Sir Keir agree with Reform UK’s policy of detaining all illegal migrants, denying asylum claims, and deporting them.
Anderson, who defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK in March 2024, has a history of strong stances on immigration, including advocating offshore processing of asylum applications and stating that most Channel crossers are economic migrants. He has previously suggested the government should “ignore the law” regarding the Rwanda asylum plan.
Reform UK leader under fire
Sir Keir then turned his attention to Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, launching a pointed attack on his financial dealings. “He likes to ask questions,” the prime minister said. “He should be asking some questions of the leader of his party sitting next to him. He received £5 million in crypto from a crypto billionaire, and then privately lobbied the Bank of England on digital currencies. So did their leader carry out lobbying paid? Why did he keep his £5 million gift secret? Are they happy with their leader earning £20,000 an hour flogging gold bullion? They need to ask questions across their benches, but they never do.”
The £5 million gift came from Christopher Harborne, a Thai-based billionaire who has donated millions to Reform UK. Farage initially failed to declare the sum, and Labour has called for a financial watchdog probe, alleging he may have acted to “line the pockets” of his donor by lobbying the Bank of England to scrap plans for a state-run digital currency — known as “Britcoin”. According to the allegations, Farage met Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to argue against the development of a central bank digital currency (CBDC). That opposition aligns with the interests of Tether, a stablecoin-issuing firm in which Harborne is a shareholder. Farage has publicly praised stablecoins and argued for the UK to become a global centre for cryptoasset activity, while his party has accepted cryptocurrency donations.
Farage is now under investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for failing to declare the £5 million gift. He has offered a series of explanations for it, including that it was for personal security or a “reward” for campaigning for Brexit.
The scrutiny extends to his earnings from promoting gold bullion. Farage has declared a £270,000 payment from Direct Bullion for an estimated 12 hours of work over three months — equating to more than £22,000 per hour — and has served as a brand ambassador for the company.
In a further development, Reform UK quietly removed its flagship draft crypto bill from its website, which had promised to make the UK a “crypto powerhouse”.
Government claims
Sir Keir’s remarks on migration were part of a broader rebuttal of Reform UK’s attacks. He insisted his government had restored order after what he called the “lost control” of the previous administration. The Home Office confirmed that removals of people with no right to be in the UK had reached more than 48,000 in the 12 months to October 2025, and that the asylum backlog had been cut by nearly half from its peak.
