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Starmer Urged To Let ‘Wealthy Americans’ Move To UK Ahead Of Trump Presidency

by DD Staff

January 15, 2025

Keir Starmer

key takeaways

Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey pressed the PM not to exclude those who want ‘bring their money and skills’ to the UK in a bid to reduce immigration.

"Wealthy, high-skilled Americans" who wish to immigrate to the UK "out of fear of what President-elect Trump will do to their country" have encouraged Keir Starmer to issue visas.

In his attempts to "reduce immigration from the record highs of the Conservatives," Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged the prime minister to include people who wish to "bring their money and their skills" to the UK.

According to updated estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the gap between the number of individuals entering and departing the nation reached a record 906,000 in the 12 months ending in June 2023, which is around 166,000 more than previously believed.

Sir Keir has promised to cut immigration, but stopped short of setting any targets.

The Government has previously said that tackling skills shortages in the UK, reforming “our approach to the labour market” and “clamping down on employers who exploit the visa system” will help to reduce net migration.

During Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons on Wednesday, Sir Ed offered “an idea” to Chancellor Rachel Reeves on how to “grow the economy”.

He said: “As President-elect Trump prepares to take office next week, there are reports that a number of wealthy, high-skilled Americans are looking to come to the UK for fear of what President-elect Trump will do to their country.

“But because the Conservatives so broke the immigration system, many of them are finding there is no visa that they can apply for.

“Now, I know the Prime Minister is rightly seeking to reduce immigration from the record highs of the Conservatives, but does he agree, if people like this want to come to our country to bring their money and their skills so we can grow our economy and pay for our public services, they should be able to?”

Sir Keir replied: “We welcome all investment into the United Kingdom, and I am very pleased to have record investment in the time that we have been in office.”

He added: “The last Government lost control of immigration, as they lost control of health and the economy and the borders and everything else, and it was, of course, the Leader of the Opposition who was championing the driving up of the numbers.

“So we will bring those numbers down. We’ll get it back under control. We’ll encourage investment.”