CAMPAIGNERS slammed the government today for its “racist and classist policy” of hiking the earnings threshold for bringing foreign family members to live in Britain.
Ministers announced on Thursday that they will raise the amount from £18,600 to £29,000 in spring, reducing a threat made earlier this month by Home Secretary James Cleverly to make it £38,700.
Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom announced the government had cut back its plans, realising that the current threshold allows 75 per cent of the British working population to bring family members over, but a £38,700 threshold would limit that to 30 per cent.
The minister said the threshold would be “increased in incremental stages to give predictability,” but no timetable was given.
Mr Cleverly said: “This plan will deliver the biggest ever reduction in net migration, with around 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK compared to last year.”
The partial U-turn has sparked a backlash within the Tory Party, with David Jones, deputy chairman of the right-wing European Research Group, calling it “a regrettable sign of weakness.”
But Migrants’ Rights Network chief executive officer Fizza Qureshi said the announcement will be little comfort to those seeking to be united with their loved ones.
“This is still a high salary that many will struggle to meet, especially in rural and northern parts of the UK,” she said.
“Raising the income threshold will affect communities of colour and working-class people. This is a racist and classist policy.”
“We are really concerned that there is very little clarity around the timescales for increasing the threshold up to £38,700, and this just adds to the uncertainty many people face under increasingly hostile and ever-changing immigration policies.”
Humans for Rights Network founder Maddie Harris said that the hike was “yet another example of the complete lack of humanity and the hostility that is woven into every policy.”
“I don’t think they ever truly research and explore the consequences of the pieces of a policy other than ‘this is something that’s hostile’,” she said.
“I don't imagine for a second that the rowing back on this has got any kind of humanity in it.
“If they see a decision as affecting the capitalist foundations on which this country is built, then that’s why they will change their mind.”
Reunite Families director Caroline Coombs said: “It’s outrageous that families have been thrown into such mental and emotional chaos days before Christmas.
“Another last-minute announcement to drop the threshold £29,000 will not help a large amount of British citizens who have to sponsor their partner – especially those outside London.”
“They pay a huge health surcharge to use the NHS and have no access to welfare benefits because it’s a condition of their visas – so saying it is being done to protect the taxpayer is smoke and mirrors to distract the public.”
