Reducing migration will take time, warns May

VOTERS will have to wait before migration starts being cut despite the UK deciding to leave the European Union, Theresa May warns today.

The Home Secretary, who is the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership election, promises to reform the EU’s rules on “free movement” of people, which allow an unlimited number of migrants to move to Britain to live and work. However, she stops short of promising to abolish free movement altogether, warning that it will “take time” before the number of immigrants comes down.

Cutting migration will be one of the critical battlegrounds in the Brexit negotiation between the UK and the EU’s remaining 27 member states in the months and years ahead. It was a key subject in the referendum campaign, with figures showing net migration to the UK running at 333,000 a year.

Research published today suggests that deep public anxiety over the impact of migration on public services fuelled the vote to leave the EU.

Almost three-quarters of voters – 71 per cent – believe the pressure schools face from migrants is greater than any benefits Britain would gain from foreign nationals through tax and staffing.

The findings, based on the 2015 British Social Attitude survey, also state 63 per cent of the public believed the NHS was being stretched by immigration.

Vote Leave campaigners promised that “taking back control” over the borders would allow the Government to impose strict limits on migrants.

Michael Gove, who led Vote Leave and is a leadership rival to Mrs May, promises today to introduce an Australian-style points-based system for immigration. Other leadership candidates, including Liam Fox and Andrea Leadsom, both pro-Brexit, also promise to abolish free movement.

The Sunday Telegraph asked all five candidates whether they will “promise to end free movement and cut net migration to the tens of thousands”.

Mrs May says she will set out her “negotiating principles in more detail in the coming weeks”.

“There is clearly no mandate for a deal that involves accepting the free movement of people as it has worked until now,” she says. “We must regain more control of the numbers of people who come here from Europe, and reduce the numbers that come from outside Europe, too. We need immigration to be sustainable, and I think net migration in the tens of thousands is sustainable, but it is going to take time.”

Stephen Crabb, another leadership candidate who, like Mrs May, backed Remain in the referendum, also stops short of promising the full abolition of free movement rules. In the Brexit deal with the EU, “ending the current free movement arrangements will be a red line” for him, he says.

Free movement of people across Europe is a founding principle of the EU. It is also a precondition for trading within the European single market and will be a key and difficult area for the UK’s negotiations with Europe.

Mrs May is the favourite to win the leadership election, having already won the backing of more than 100 MPs. The first secret vote in the contest takes place among Tory MPs on Tuesday. MPs must reduce the current five candidates to just two, who will then be put to a postal ballot of the party’s 150,000 members, in a run-off election over the summer.

Latest estimates, based on tallies conducted by the media, suggest that Mrs May has won the backing of 104 MPs; Mr Gove has 27; Mr Crabb 23; and Mrs Leadsom 21. Dr Fox, the former defence secretary, has 11 supporters, with 144 MPs so far undeclared.

Some of Mrs May’s supporters have suggested privately that her rivals should drop out and allow her a “coronation” if she takes an overwhelming lead in the race. However, sources on her campaign team suggested this was not an imminent prospect.

Chris Grayling, the Cabinet minister who is leading Mrs May’s campaign team, said he believed she was the only candidate who could unite the party. Mr Grayling told The Sunday Telegraph: “After the turbulent events of the last week, on both sides of the House, my sense is that the country, the business community and the international community are looking now for clear leadership. Theresa has got the best chance of any of the candidates now of uniting the party. We need to get back together quickly. We have got some big challenges to address.”

Some Tory MPs who supported Boris Johnson before he dropped out of the contest suspect that Mrs May is the “establishment” candidate and preferred by Downing Street. There are reports that her list of supporters includes senior Tory whips, who are banned from canvassing for support in leadership elections. Gavin Williamson, David Cameron’s parliamentary aide, and Matt Hancock, George Osborne’s close ally, are also both backing Mrs May.

Last night, however, Mr Gove won the support of a key minister in Mrs May’s department. John Hayes, the security minister, told The Sunday Telegraph: “Michael Gove has been my friend and colleague for many years. Having worked with him in Opposition and Government, I know how he has the energy, insight and courage to lead the nation.”

George Eustice, the farming minister and a former adviser to Mr Cameron, is also backing Mr Gove. He said: “We need to focus on the task in hand and elect a leader with the mettle and resolve to see through the decision that our country has taken. That is why I will be backing Michael Gove.”

‘There is clearly no mandate for a deal accepting the free movement of people as it has worked until now’