‘Crunching migration numbers must be PM’S priority’
RISHI Sunak should use the time he has left before the election to drive net migration down towards the tens of thousands, a former immigration minister has warned.
Robert Jenrick cautioned that the “cycle of broken promises simply cannot continue”.
He made waves last week by publishing 36 recommendations to overhaul the immigration system, leading to speculation he will run for thetory leadership in future.
He told the Sunday Express: “As offensive and dangerous as illegal migration is, mass legal migration is having a bigger impact on the British public because the numbers are so much greater. It’s fuelling the housing crisis, suppressing wages and stifling much needed productivity gains.”
Net migration hit a record 745,000 in 2022 and last year the figure was 672,000, with
1.2 million people coming into the country and 508,000 exiting.
This comes 13 years after a 2010 manifesto vow by David Cameron to get net migration down to the “tens, not hundreds of thousands”.
Mr Jenrick went on: “I resigned as I believed I couldn’t influence things in government any further.
“The Government must finally deliver the highly controlled, highly selective post-brexit system voters were promised and reduce net migration back to 10,000s, which is the historical norm.”
Exclusive polling bywethink has revealed that a narrow majority of voters, 52 per cent, think net migration is too high, 41 per cent believe it is “about right” and 7 per cent say it is “too low”.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer last week said that as PM he would immediately scrap the plan to send asylum seekers who arrive illegally to Rwanda for processing.
Mr Jenrick pressed for swift action to “fix our broken system”, saying: “I urge the Government to use the precious time in office before the general election to deliver these changes that the UK desperately wants and needs.”
Many Conservative MPS fearing for their seats want bold action to tackle the issue, particularly in light of the party’s disastrous local election results earlier this month.
One Red Wall MP said: “The working class has checked out, left the building. Unless something dramatic happens now, it’s over.”
A Home Office source said: “Our focus in the coming months is to keep delivering on our plan and relentlessly expose to the British people that Labour don’t have one and, as a consequence, would make us the asylum capital of the world.”