LONDON (AP) — The leader of Britain, Keir Starmer, said on Monday that he wants to lower the number of people coming to the UK and make it harder for them to live there. This issue has been difficult for many governments and has helped a new party that is against immigration. This new party could cause problems for the main political groups in the country.

People are unhappy with Starmer. His party won a big election last year. Many voters think too many people are coming into the country. They believe this makes public services busy and causes problems between different groups of people in some areas.

Starmer said he would make it harder for people to come to Britain. This happened after a party called Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, won many local elections. The two main parties in Britain, Labour and Conservative, lost a lot of support in these local elections.

Starmer said they will make the rules for people coming to live here stronger in every way. This includes rules for jobs, family, and school, so they can decide better who comes. He also said they will make a system that they can manage, choose people carefully, and be fair to everyone.

Immigration has been a big topic in Britain for many years, especially since 2004. That year, more countries in Eastern Europe joined the European Union. Most EU countries did not let people from these new countries move there for some years. But the UK let them come and work right away.

In 2010, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he wanted to reduce the number of people coming to live in the UK each year to less than 100,000. But four governments from his party did not achieve this goal. In 2016, many people were angry because the government could not control the number of people arriving from EU countries. This anger was a major reason why Britain decided to leave the EU.

But Brexit did not make fewer people come to the country to work, study, or be with their families.

Many people are worried because they see thousands of people coming to the UK in small, unsafe boats. People who bring them illegally help them. Last year, about 37,000 people came across the sea in these small boats.

Starmer said he wants to make that number smaller by stopping the bad groups who plan these trips.

Now he has also promised to let fewer people move to the country legally. He did not say exactly how many fewer people. He wants to do this by giving fewer visas for jobs that do not need special skills. He will also ask people who want to work there to earn more money. And he will make sure they can speak English better.

Starmer started using the words of the group that wanted Britain to leave the EU, even though he didn't agree with them before. He said his government would control Britain's borders again.

He said that in the past, governments allowed many people to come into the country. He said this happened even though people wanted more control over who came in. He said this will not happen anymore.

On Monday, the government announced new plans. They want to reduce the number of visas for jobs that don't require special skills. They also plan to stop hiring workers from other countries for care homes. This work is important but the pay is usually low. The government said they would improve these jobs to encourage people from Britain to do them, but they did not explain how.

Martin Green, the head of Care England, said getting workers from other countries was very important for their work.

"Taking it away now, without telling anyone first, and without giving money or another choice, is not just a bad idea – it's mean," he said.

Starmer said that some parts of the UK economy used cheap workers from other countries too much. He said the government would spend more money to train people in Britain.

With the new rules, most people who come to the UK must live here for 10 years to become a citizen. Before, it was only five years. Some people can become citizens faster if they help the country and join in with the community.

Starmer said that people coming to Britain is part of the country's history. But he also said that if there are no clear rules, people might feel like strangers, and the country might not go forward together.

Some groups that help refugees and some Labour politicians were not happy with what Starmer said. He said that many people coming to the country had caused a lot of harm to British society. A Labour politician named Sarah Owen wrote that trying to be like right-wing politicians could take the country in a bad direction.

Chris Philp from the Conservative party said Labour's plans are not good enough.

He said that people want less immigration. He thinks the government should decide how many people can come to the country every year.