https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-01-30/hcws222 Dates when the income requirement changes
The 40 days for members of the House of Commons to request a debate and vote on the proposed bill changes is probably due in the next day or so, without objection it will move to the House of Lords
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-wont-say-reverse-visa-rule-foreign-spouses-2795086 Sitting on the fence on this until after the election I suspect. That said legal challenges may do the dirty work for them.
This is the problem with them. If they openly stood up, stated that this is discriminating against British people and they will reverse it, then I might actually consider voting for them. At least there's a hint that they might - which is something. they are, after all, going to be the next government. If they are going to have a threshold, then surely it should be set at minimum wage. Anyone who works full-time should be entitled to marry who they want and live with them in the UK.
Oh nuuuuu It didn't say anything about those who are exempted from the minimum income, so I'm hoping they don't change that..
Normally Stammer would kick up a storm to encourage legal challenges but he hasn’t! If UK gov put in place a transitional agreement for those that are in the UK already then this will remove many opportunities for legal challenges.
He's scared of looking weak on immigration. It's always the same. They can't do anything about those who come here illegally, so pick on those who are taking a legal route. I wish the man would stand up and say that this is a different issue and something that affects British people as much as people from overseas. I'm just glad I got all this stuff out of the way a few years ago. Even then we were being picked on, with the 5 year visa and so on.
what really grinds me is that ordinary working people have no chance of reaching the income requirement any more.
I agree with this. But you have to look at who is responsible for always whipping up the anti-immigrant headlines, and it's the Tories, Farage and Brexit. Starmer has to weigh up the pros and cons of opposing the new rules and it's probably not worth the hassle. It's like the "what is a woman?" question which is just not worth the hassle of answering in the current climate. Starmer and Labour would probably be quite happy if the rules are challenged through the courts and gives them an excuse to quietly put things back.
If they are the people whipping up the headlines, he has an opportunity to go against them but he doesn't. So he's no better. He may even be worse, because it's what you would expect from the right-wing. People on decent incomes are being robbed of married life. The labour party should be taking a stand against it, even if it's just a statement to oppose it, but they're not.
"If that petition reaches 100,000 signatures by June 13 it will be considered for debate in Parliament. The petition said: “Currently the financial requirements to bring your spouse to the UK is £18,600 per year and now the Government wants to more than double it. “Most people in the UK don’t make that per year. We believe this policy punishes those who fall in love with someone with a different nationality.” The petition added that many people may now "face the choice of a lifetime without their partner or leaving their own country because they fell in love and can’t meet the financial requirement for the family visa". According to analysis from the Migration Observatory, based at the University of Oxford, around 50 per cent of UK workers already do not earn enough to bring a family member from overseas, as they earn under £29,000."