India, May 13 -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer chose some ugly phrasing while announcing an overhaul of the country's immigration policy - that rising immigration risked making the UK "an island of strangers". This betrays a capitulation to the politics of xenophobia and racism identified with Reforms UK, a rival party of Starmer's Labour, which recorded an unexpectedly good showing in the recent polls. The political cost of such panic aside, Starmer needs to take a careful look at the long-term effects of his immigration squeeze.

Two key changes announced illustrate the myopia of the immigration white paper. One, the decision to shorten the period available for foreign students graduating from UK universities to work in the country, fr...