Sir Keir Starmer's promises to tackle which he says has caused "incalculable" damage to British society has sparked fury among the left. admitted the UK is facing a crisis because integration has failed and pledged that his "most comprehensive plan" will reduce immigration significantly by the next election.

Starmer's warning that the UK is becoming an "island of strangers" without stricter controls led some MP's to accuse him of divisive language. The remark sparked alarm from Labour backbenchers who compared it to Enoch Powell's infamous "rivers of blood" speech in 1968. The plans, which are expected to reduce the number of people coming to the UK by up to 100,000 per year, include reforming work and study visas and requiring a higher level of English across all

The rules are intended to reduce reliance on overseas recruitment, prioritise those who contribute to Britain's economy and put more money in the pockets of working people.

The policy change will include migrants being required to live in the UK for a decade before they can apply for citizenship, up from five years.

Although the measures unveiled in the White Paper on Monday are compelling, questions are being whether the UK can trust Starmer who has previously opposed attempts to curb migration.

Home Office figures estimate this change will cut the number of workers coming to the UK by between 7,000 and 8,000 a year. But Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch said: "This is nowhere near the scale of the change we need to see."

Net migration reached nearly one million in the year ending June 2023 - four times the levels seen in 2019.

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Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick claimed the UK "already" is an island of strangers in some places."Aggressive levels of mass migration have made us more divided," he told Times Radio.

Starmer, the former shadow immigration minister to Jeremy Corbyn, wrote in 2020: "Britain is economically, culturally and socially richer as a result of immigration. We should celebrate this and the huge contribution migration has made to our country. If I am elected leader of the Labour Party, I will always defend migrants' rights and make the positive case for immigration."