This particular story warrants further examination. Firstly, the Home Office wouldn't have done an Impact Assessment but for the pressure put on them by one of the select committees.
The impact assessment contains the sentence: "'The Home Office believes that despite these points the changes are justified for a number of policy reasons including reducing net migration and ending reliance on overseas recruitment. '
Of course the lease price is largely related to depreciation over the lease period and the differential between the sticker price and resale value, and not directly to the value of the car, so simply banning certain marques is a question of optics (if the manufacturers had the stones they could probably sue the government under Competition Law).
Depreciation is not unrelated to the purchase price, though. Cars tend to depreciate by percentages...
Comments
This particular story warrants further examination. Firstly, the Home Office wouldn't have done an Impact Assessment but for the pressure put on them by one of the select committees.
The impact assessment contains the sentence: "'The Home Office believes that despite these points the changes are justified for a number of policy reasons including reducing net migration and ending reliance on overseas recruitment. '
The points are contained in Annex B here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6937e67eb612700b2cb73679/Spring_2025_Immigration_Rules_Impact_Assessment__Skilled_Worker_and_Care_Worker___003_.pdf
And amount to 'It costs more and is bad for disabled and old people who require care'.
Meanwhile Mike Tapp - the Home Office Minister - was out stirring the pot on 'grooming gangs'
https://x.com/MikeTappTweets/status/1998464759855792218
And to avoid 'what Starmer really said' style arguments, here is the accompanying piece to which he put his name:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/09/protect-borders-defend-democracies-echr-keir-starmer-mette-frederiksen
And an accompanying article about the Justice Secretary pushing to weaken the provisions on torture:
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/dec/08/rights-groups-warn-uk-weaken-torture-protections-echr
Along with the reduction of jury trials, a wonderful set of precedents for Farage should Reform win next time around.
Depreciation is not unrelated to the purchase price, though. Cars tend to depreciate by percentages...