Waveney MP Peter Aldous has welcomed new policies announced by the Home Secretary to combat immigration abuses and to cut net migration further. Theresa May has set out new plans to extend the use of interviews in visa applications instead of relying on paper applications alone.

The new measures come shortly after the latest migration statistics showed that the government’s reforms of all the routes of immigration have cut net immigration by a quarter, with the total number of visas issued is at its lowest since 2005.

Mr Aldous said:

“Thanks to reforms previously introduced by the Government we have already seen net migration cut by a quarter compared to last year and total number of visas issued at its lowest since 2005.

“Immigration has bee out of control and has accounted for more than half the growth of the English and Welsh population between 2001 and 2011 – with total net immigration of 2.2 million.

“These new plans to cut out abuse of the system will help bring the numbers down even further. This new approach will help us to root out the abuse of British visas, improve the integrity of our immigration system and bring the numbers down even further.”