Skip to main content
EU and non-EU migrants must receive the same rights
EU free movement and the Tory hostile environment are two sides of the same coin, writes the Indian Workers’ Association’s HARSEV BAINS

ON September 11 2019, Tory ministers reversed a single legislative measure introduced in 2012 by David Cameron’s Tory-Lib Dem coalition government.

In June 2012, then home secretary Theresa May announced new restrictions to reduce the number of non-EU family migrants.

In an echo of the barriers erected to migrant families trying to enter Britain in the 1970s and 1980s, the Immigration and Nationality Regulations 2012 permitted only British citizens earning more than £18,600 per annum to bring spouses or children to the Britain.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
27/02/26. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood during a visit to the Center Sandholm' reception centre in Sandholmgardsvej on the outskirts of Copenhagen
International Women’s Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

The government’s new immigration proposal risks creating a society where rights are earned, not guaranteed, warn feminist groups Project Resist and FiLiA in a joint statement

Lunar House in Croydon, south London which houses the headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration, a division of the Home Office
Voices of Scotland / 30 October 2025
30 October 2025

The visa system traps workers with abusive employers, creating a vulnerable workforce scared to complain for fear of deportation — that is why we’re campaigning for a ‘common sponsorship’ model instead, writes FAVOUR DAVIDKING

Fanning the flames of fascism: Starmer’s betrayal of the working class
Features / 23 September 2025
23 September 2025

CLAUDIA WEBBE argues that Labour gains nothing from its adoption of right-wing stances on immigration, and seems instead to be deliberately paving the way for the far right to become an established force in British politics, as it has already in Europe

Home Office of Border Force officers process small boat migrants detained, under the UK's new ‘one in, one out’ deal with France, at the Manston Immigration Processing Centre in Kent before relocation to the Immigration Removal Centre to await their return to France, August 7 2025
Features / 6 September 2025
6 September 2025

DIANE ABBOTT exposes the misconceptions, rumours and downright lies perpetrated around immigration issues