Image source, EPA

The prime minister is asked how voters can trust him when he pledged to reduce small boat crossings, when they are rising under his leadership.

Starmer says the last government "lost control of the borders" and his party has been left to "clear up that mess".

He says he is convinced the way to do that is to tackle the gangs, and says legislation is moving through Parliament to do so.

"What's your message to the nine million inactive adults in the UK right now?" Starmer is asked.

Starmer says that some of those "inactive" adults can't work, but there's others who can.

He says in Labour's welfare provisions it sets out the ways people who can't work should be protected.

He adds that people who can get into work should be supported.

The current system does the opposite, the PM claims. "If you can work you should work," he adds.

Image source, EPA

When asked on if he believes Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is now a problem for his government.

For context: Article Eight of the ECHR states that people have a right to privacy in their private, family and home life, and correspondence. In this context, it is used often to challenge deportations in the UK.

Starmer says three years ago, he made the same argument he's making this morning - "take back control".

On the ECHR, he says they want to ensure the right balance is made in migration cases in relation to the national interests.

There's a balance set out in legislation already, which he says needs to be adjusted and "that's what we will do".

Starmer has just finished speaking, stay with us as we bring you the key developments.

Starmer doesn't want this to look like a panicked response to Reform's recent winspublished at 08:52 British Summer Time

08:52 BST

Vicky Young
Deputy political editor

The Prime Minister has been careful not to set a target or cap on lower immigration but has promised today that it will fall “significantly”.

The Conservatives say changes they made to the system mean that’s already inevitable.

Keir Starmer was keen to point to past speeches he’s made on this issue - he doesn't want this to look like a panicked response to Reform’s recent wins.

He’s also framing this as an opportunity for British workers to gain more skills and get better jobs, hoping to keep his own MPs onside.

Image source, EPA

Starmer is asked whether he thinks the increase in time it takes to get settled status in the UK means he has shot himself in the foot.

Starmer says the theory that higher migration necessarily leads to higher growth has been tested in the last four years, and says that "link doesn't hold".

He says the White Paper is not just about immigration, it's also about skills and training, saying the reason the UK has had stagnant growth is because "we have underinvested chronically" in those.

On the latest news that the US and China have agreed a deal on tariffs, he says he is not across the details.

BBC's political editor Chris Mason asks Starmer if he is promising net migration will fall every year between now and the next general election.

The PM says he's promising it will fall "significantly".

He repeats that this White Paper makes immigration "controlled, selective and fair".

Starmer now shares some specifics from the White Paper.

This includes the time it takes to get settled status rising from five to 10 years.

"Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall, that's a promise."

If the government "do need to take further steps" to release pressure on housing and public services, then "mark my words, we will", he adds.

Starmer is now facing questions from the press, starting with BBCs Chris Mason, we'll bring you what he has to say in our next post.

Starmer says Britain must "compete for the best talent in the world" and that the government cannot just "pull up the drawbridge".

He says we have to ask why parts of the economy are "almost addicted to importing cheap labour".

He says the White Paper sets out that every area of the immigration system - work, family and study - "will be tightened up so we have more control".

"I'm doing it because it's right, it's fair, and what I believe in," Starmer tells the news conference.

He says an an immigration system "almost designed to permit abuse" and one that encourages some business to bring in low paid workers, rather than investing in "our young people", does not champion growth or justice.

He says migration is part of Britain's national story, but that migrants should commit to integration, including through learning English.

Starmer says from 2019 to 2023 net migration "quadrupled" under the previous government, reaching a record high of nearly one million in the year to 2023.

He says this is almost the size of the city of Birmingham, the UK's second largest city.

"That's not control, it's chaos," he tells the room.

He doesn't think that "you can do something like that by accident, it was a choice," he argues, and says this was a "one nation experiment" on open borders.

Starmer is speaking now, he begins by saying that today the government will publish a White Paper on immigration.

The change will "finally take back control of our borders", he says.

Chris Mason
Political editor

A big turn out of cabinet ministers in the front row here — the chancellor, home secretary, business secretary, education secretary and health secretary are here.

In the next few minutes we'll be hearing from Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

He is set to outline Labour's long-awaited migration rules which will be published in a White Paper later today.

We'll bring you the key lines right here - you can also follow along by pressing watch live at the top of the page.

Stay with us.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper laid out some of the government's plans to curb net migration on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.

Let's take a look at what she said:

• Lower-skilled workers: Cooper pledged up to 50,000 fewer visas for low-skilled workers but refrained from committing to a target for net migration
• Care workers: Cooper said "it is time to end" the visa route for overseas care workers
• International students: Cooper pledged to enforce stricter standards on graduate visas, arguing some universities haven't had proper checks in place, citing issues with some international students overstaying visas or failing to complete their studies

Government plans to stop care visas causing real concernpublished at 08:07 British Summer Time

08:07 BST

Alison Holt
Social affairs editor

Many care companies supporting older and disabled people in their own homes, and in care homes, view overseas staff recruited in the last few years as a "lifeline".

Even with care workers being brought in from other countries, official estimates, external showed there were 131,000 vacancies in social care in England last year.

It means the government’s plans to stop care visas are causing real concern.

“The sector has been propping itself up with dwindling resources, rising costs, and mounting vacancies,” says Professor Martin Green of Care England, which describes itself as the largest representative body for independent care providers.

“Taking (international recruitment) away now with no warning, no funding, and no alternative, is not just short-sighted - it’s cruel,” he says.

Chris Mason
Political editor, reporting from Downing Street

This isn’t the view you might usually see — 10 Downing Street is just to the right beyond those barricades in the road.

The steps on the immediate right lead into 9 Downing Street, where I am typing this from — and from where the prime minister will talk to us and take questions at about half past eight.

No 9 is where the last government set up a news conference room. This government has since given it a bit of a makeover, but uses it for the same purpose.

Throughout the day we'll be referring to different terminology surrounding the government's White Paper on immigration.

We've unpicked some of the key terms you'll need to know:

• Net migration: The difference between the number of people leaving and arriving in the UK
• Asylum seeker: Someone asking for sanctuary due to dangers faced in their home country. In the UK, these applications are all processed by the Home Office. An asylum seeker does not have the same rights as a British citizen or a refugee while they await the outcome of their application
• Refugee: Someone who has been forced to leave their home country. The Home Office decides which asylum seekers get refugee status. In the UK, this status lasts for five years and they can work and receive some benefits
• Migrant: A catchall term for someone who moves from one area to another, either permanently or temporarily. They might be forced to move because of war, natural disaster or persecution, or because they have chosen to study or live elsewhere
• Immigrant: You might hear the term “legal immigrant” and “illegal immigrant” used. Legal immigrants are those who have entered the UK with permission, whereas illegal immigrants arrived without it. Some illegal immigrants make claims for asylum once they arrive

Richard Tice, deputy Leader of Reform UK, tells BBC Breakfast Labour's White Paper does not include a target for the number of people legally migrating to the UK.

He says his party wants net zero immigration.

"There needs to be a target on where they want immigration to go to," he says.

People are coming into an "already overpopulated" island which is seeing poor quality in public services and housing, he adds.

Tice claims that the UK is "not short of people" but "short of the incentives to work".

"Mass immigration has led to the suppression of wages, and it's caused the quality of life to reduce for everybody," Tice says.

The ONS figures show that of the 1.2 million people who came to live in the UK in the 12 months to June 2024:

• 5% (58,000) were British nationals
• 10% (116,000) were EU nationals or from Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland (EU+)
• Around 86% (one million) were non-EU+ nationals

Of the one million non-EU+ nationals who came:

• 82% (845,000) were of working age (16 to 64 years)
• 17% (179,000) were children (under 16 years)
• 8% (84,000) claimed asylum, either after arriving via a regular route or arriving irregularly, for example, via small boats across the English Channel

Among non-EU+ migrants, the most common nationality coming to the UK for both work-related (116,000) and study-related (127,000) reasons was Indian.

Amy Clark, a commercial director for a care home chain in Cornwall, says the sector is "very reliant on foreign workers".

She adds that ending recruitment from overseas would create "significant problems".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she says the "big problem" would be "if we weren't able to recruit any overseas staff because recruiting locally is very, very difficult".

She says to tackle the issue properly the government would need to look at the benefit system, arguing this makes working on a wage slightly above the national minimum "unattractive".

She adds that overseas staff are "highly valued" members of the team who provide good care.