Davidson accuses colleagues of ‘giving up’ on party over EU vote
criticised some party colleagues over their failure to campaign for the European elections
“stay”. An increasingly visible irregular immigrant population, accompanied by increased immigration enforcement, can give rise to greater public concern over immigration even if overall immigrant flows are reducing, the paper adds.
It urges the government to “inject a dose of honest realism, coming clean about the complexities and unintended consequences of immigration policy, about the control that it does have, but also the practical limits to that control”.
Jonathan Thomas, SMF migration researcher and author of the report, said: “History suggests that people who expect ending free movement to take away their worries about immigration are going to be disappointed.
“Illegal immigration has
not been a big part of British debate in recent years but the precedents suggest it could soon be high on the political agenda.”
He added: “People who want to end free movement should be honest with the electorate about the possibility that it will create significant new challenges relating to illegal immigration.
“And people who support a liberal approach to immigration should engage constructively with the perfectly legitimate view that illegal immigration is a problem that policymakers should address.”
In December, ministers unveiled plans for the biggest shake-up of the UK’S immigration system in more than 40 years.
Under the proposals,
outlined in a long-awaited White Paper, a new temporary work route will be created, the annual cap on skilled work visas will be scrapped, and employers who are wanting to sponsor overseas employees will no longer be required to carry out a “resident labour market test”.
Officials insist it is not possible to accurately quantify the number of people in the country illegally.
In 2017, a former immigration enforcement chief claimed the figure was likely to run to more than a million.
Fourteen years ago, a Home Office assessment suggested that the unauthorised migrant population living in the UK in 2001 was an estimated 430,000. Ruth Davidson has hit out at C o n s e r va t ive MPS wh o a r e failing to campaign ahead of next week’s Europ ean elections, accusing them of giving up on the party and admitting failure.
The S cottish Conser vative leader said it was “pretty disappointing” that some of her colleagues appeared to be “sitting this one out” in the face of diving poll ratings.
Speaking at the launch of her own campaign nor th of the border, she also pleaded with former Tory voters thinking of backing Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party to return to the fold.
Arguing that it was time for “people to start walking back to the middle” on Brexit, she said a vote for the Tories was a vote for leaving the EU in an “orderly manner” rather than embracing a no-deal outcome.
Several Tor y MPS have said they will not be campaigning ahead of the vote on 23 May and might not even vote for their local party candidate.
Maria Caulfield, the party’s MP for Lewes, said last week s h e “f u n d a m e n t a l l y d i s a - greed” with holding the elections and may even vote for a Brexit Party candidate.
“I wo n’t b e c a m p a i g n i n g for them. Why should I campaign? We promised people that we wouldn’t be holding these elections for an institution that I voted to leave,” she told the BBC.
B e n B r a d l e y, t h e M P f o r Mansfield, also said his local asso ciation did not want to sp end money campaigning i n a n e l e c t i o n t h e y d i d n o t want and that he would not be “forcing” them to do so. But the Scottish Tory leader said they should “reconsider” this position, arguing they had a “duty” to get out on the streets and put forward their case.
“I wo u l d s ay t o s o me c o l - leagues down south who are perhaps choosing not to campaign that that’s pretty disappointing,” she said.
“I think that as Conservatives and in the privileged position that we are, to b e elected to Parliament and be in a leadership position, it’s our job to lead. Just because the fight’s harder – that means that you have to fight harder, it doesn’t mean you give up.”
Ms Davi dson i n s i s t e d s h e would be campaigning with “vim and vigour” despite the Tories’ falling ratings, with two opinion polls at the weekend showing voters deserting the party in droves.
One put the Tories in fourth place at the European election with only 11 per cent support, compared to 34 per cent for the Brexit Party which is now well in the lead.
The Scottish Tories have six candidates at the election – Baroness Nosheena Mobarik, Iain Mcgill, Shona Haslam, Iain Whyte, Andrea Gee and Michael Kusznir.