LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Monday that he wants to reduce the number of people coming to the UK and make it harder for them to live there permanently.

Starmer, whose centre-left Labour Party won a big election victory last July, is facing pressure from voters. These voters are unhappy about the high number of immigrants. Many of them think this has put too much pressure on public services and caused problems between different ethnic groups in some parts of the country.

Starmer said he would stop "Britain's unsuccessful try with open borders." This happened less than two weeks after Reform UK, the far-right party led by Nigel Farage, won important victories in local elections. The Labour party and the main Conservative party, which have been the most important parties in British politics for a long time, both saw their support drop a lot in these local elections for councils and mayors.

"We will make the immigration system stricter in all areas - work, family, and study - so we have more control," Starmer said in a speech on Downing Street. "We will create a system that is controlled, careful, and fair."

Immigration has been a very important topic in Britain for many years, particularly since 2004 when more countries joined the European Union from Eastern Europe. Although most EU countries limited people moving from these new countries for some time, the UK quickly allowed workers from these countries to come and work.

In 2010, Prime Minister David Cameron promised to reduce the number of people coming to the UK each year to less than 100,000. But four Conservative governments after him could not do this. In 2016, many people were angry because the government could not manage immigration from EU countries, and this was a main reason why Britain voted to leave the EU.

However, Brexit did not reduce how many people came to the UK with visas for work, study, and to join their families. Official numbers show that net migration, which is the number of people arriving minus those leaving, was more than 900,000 in the year up to June 2023. This was almost four times higher than before Brexit. The large increase was partly because many people left Ukraine because of the war and Hong Kong because China made rules stricter. In the year up to June 2024, net immigration went down to 728,000.

Many people are worried that the government is not controlling who comes into Britain. This is because thousands of migrants have arrived in small, unsafe boats. These boats are used by criminals who help people cross the border illegally. Last year, around 37,000 people crossed the sea in these small boats.

Starmer has promised to lower this number by stopping the criminal groups who plan these trips.

Now, he has promised to greatly reduce the number of people who can legally move to the country. He hasn't said the exact number, but he plans to do this by giving fewer visas for jobs that don't need special skills. He will also make people earn more money to get a work visa and require migrants to speak English better.

Starmer started using the same words as the pro-Brexit campaign he was against before. He said his government would "take back control" of Britain's borders.

He said that previous Conservative governments had allowed many people to come into the country easily. He described this as 'an experiment with open borders' in a country that had voted to have more control. He finished by saying that this easy entry would not happen anymore.

On Monday, the government announced plans to greatly reduce the number of visas for jobs that do not require high skills and stop hiring people from other countries to work in care homes. These jobs are important but usually do not pay much. The government stated it would make these jobs better to encourage British people to do them, but they did not explain how.

Martin Green, the head of Care England, said that hiring people from other countries was very important for the care industry.

He said, "Taking it away now, without telling anyone, giving money, or offering another option, is not just a bad plan – it's cruel."

Starmer said that some parts of the British economy depended too much on cheap workers from other countries. He also said the government would spend more on training British workers.

Under the new rules, most immigrants will need to live in the U.K. for ten years instead of five to become citizens. People who help the country and become part of society will not have to wait as long.

Starmer said that people moving to Britain has always been part of our country's story. But he also said that if we don't have clear rules, we might become like an island of strangers instead of a country that works together.

Groups that help refugees and some Labour politicians were not happy with what Starmer said. They were especially unhappy with his claim that a lot of migration had caused "very great harm" to British society. Labour politician Sarah Owen wrote online that "if we follow the ideas of the right, it could take our country down a dangerous path."

Chris Philp, a Conservative politician who deals with immigration, said Labour's plans are not strong enough.

He said that people are right to want to stop a lot of immigration. He suggested that Parliament should decide how many people can come into the country each year.