NEWS ITEM: The Labour government recently toughened Britain’s immigration rules. The far-right Reform party made significant gains in recent local elections largely because of resentment against immigrants, so Prime Minister Keir Starmer felt he had to respond.

Despite the support of the previous Tory government for exit from the EU, which was substantially driven by a backlash against the EU’s liberal immigration rules, the annual number of migrants who entered Britain actually increased under the Tories. The top sending countries were India and Nigeria; relatively few came from EU nations.

Why the increase? A large number are care workers, willing to work for the dismal pay offered to home care and nursing care workers. Immigrant care workers, allowed in under a special visa category, represent some 32 percent of all British care workers. Despite the public National Health Service, most of the caregiving sector is privatized and run by for-profit companies even though British taxpayers ultimately pay the costs.

When Starmer announced the immigration crackdown last week, making it harder for immigrants to gain legal status, companies that depend on immigrant care workers expressed alarm that worker shortages would worsen.