Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Reform u-turn after tasting reality of power
As the Guardian says, while Reform does not have a definitive national position on this issue, the general approach set out by Farage and his fellow MPs has been to push repeatedly for a significant fall in overall migration and curbs to work visas:
In May, Farage said care staff were not skilled and overseas care workers should only be allowed in on strictly time-limited visas. More widely, he has called for zero net migration, meaning there can be no more arrivals than departures.
Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader, has said Britons should do care work rather than what he termed “a never-ending stream of cheap, low-skilled labour from overseas”.
Perhaps they should tell their new cohort of councillors, because those of them who are now having to face up to the responsibility of actually running things are finding that the reality is far different from the rhetoric being spouted by the Reform leadership.
The Guardian reports that Linden Kemkaran, the leader of Reform-run Kent council, has written to the government to express “grave concern” about a planned tightening of visas for health and care workers, despite the party’s wider commitment to significantly reducing net migration.
She told Ministers that the changes, including an imminent end to the specific visa route for care workers, could have a significant impact on local care homes:
In a letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, they said that about 20% to 25% of the county’s social care workforce was from overseas and able to work via licensed sponsorships from employers.
This route expires on 22 July, part of a wider tightening of migration rules, including on health and care visas, announced by the government in May. The Reform councillors’ letter warned about the impact on “a number of displaced social care workers who may have lost their jobs, or the sponsoring provider has lost their licence”.
When care workers’ existing visas expire, they wrote, to keep a visa they would need to earn at least £41,000 a year, the new minimum salary for skilled worker visas. Added to the NICs rise, “this is totally unsustainable, and the risk is that many care workers at this level will go home and leave providers on a cliff edge”, the letter said.
They added: “Due to the challenges facing the adult social care system in general, and care providers in particular, we urge you to reconsider these changes and look forward to your support in addressing these urgent pressing matters.”
Nothing better illustrates the fantasy politics being spouted by Farage and his minions, than the fact that his own councillors think they are unworkable and will plunge health and social care into crisis. Don't believe what Reform say, judge them by what they do.
In a letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Stephen Kinnock, the care minister, they said that about 20% to 25% of the county’s social care workforce was from overseas and able to work via licensed sponsorships from employers.
This route expires on 22 July, part of a wider tightening of migration rules, including on health and care visas, announced by the government in May. The Reform councillors’ letter warned about the impact on “a number of displaced social care workers who may have lost their jobs, or the sponsoring provider has lost their licence”.
When care workers’ existing visas expire, they wrote, to keep a visa they would need to earn at least £41,000 a year, the new minimum salary for skilled worker visas. Added to the NICs rise, “this is totally unsustainable, and the risk is that many care workers at this level will go home and leave providers on a cliff edge”, the letter said.
They added: “Due to the challenges facing the adult social care system in general, and care providers in particular, we urge you to reconsider these changes and look forward to your support in addressing these urgent pressing matters.”
Nothing better illustrates the fantasy politics being spouted by Farage and his minions, than the fact that his own councillors think they are unworkable and will plunge health and social care into crisis. Don't believe what Reform say, judge them by what they do.
