Never Mind Stopping Illegals—Ministers Can’t Even Keep Track of Migrants Already in the UK
12th August 2025
Fearing the extent to which Nigel Farage’s Reform is biting into its support base, Labour is desperately trying to look tough on migration. But the truth is that it has absolutely no control of the issue.
Hence the ‘disappearance’ of 150,000 migrants in the UK on social care visas. Ministers admitted over the weekend they have no idea how many foreign workers hired by the sector in recent years are still working in it, and that they are unsure even whether they remain in the country.
Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, said it wasn’t even possible “to estimate the number or proportion of individuals who entered the UK on a social care work visa and who are still in the UK or working in the social care sector” (emphasis added).