Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised on Monday to cut net migration to Britain significantly over the next four years, saying the country risked becoming "an island of strangers" without tougher rules on immigration.

As British prime minister Keir Starmer vowed to “finally take back control of our borders” in a landmark speech on immigration on May 12, it felt a little like déjà vu. Some nine years earlier, we had heard those exact words repeated over and over in the build-up to the Brexit referendum from former prime minister Boris Johnson and the Leave campaign.