Rishi Sunak is braced for a potential Cabinet revolt over the latest net migration figures, as Tory backbenchers and his own ministers are piling the pressure on him to take action.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is pushing a five-point plan to tackle migration, a plan which was also pushed by Tory MPs in the New Conservative Group yesterday.
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The figures also revealed that net migration stood at 672,000 to June 2023, an increase from 607,000 for the same period one year before.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman also piled on the pressure yesterday, describing the latest figures as a “slap in the face to the British public”.
Warning: “Enough is enough”, the Home Secretary suggested Rishi Sunak had blocked measures to prevent migration, which she claimed she had been “pushing for” when she was in the Home Office.
Jenrick’s plan includes proposals that were made by Braverman before she was sacked – and supposedly stonewalled by Sunak.
The New Conservatives’ Group letter yesterday, which listed the measures, highlight significant support among the backbenches.
The measures include an increase to the salary threshold, taking it to £35,000; a cap on the number of health and social care visas; and a ban on social care workers bringing dependents.
It would also see the shortage occupation list – which lets firms pay foreign workers 20 per cent below the going rate – scrapped.
Braverman’s letter went further, also calling for the closure of the graduate visa route, limits on the number of dependents on all visas and an annual cap on net migration.
The Prime Ministers official spokesperson said the Government is “actively considering” measures to curb net migration.
But they played down speculation over a package being ready by next week.
The official admitted that net migration to the UK is too high, vowing to leave “no stone unturned” to tackle the issue.
The Conservative Party under David Cameron was elected in 2010 on a manifesto pledge to bring net migration down to below 100,000.
In a statement published after the figures were released, the New Conservative Group of MPs – led by MPs Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger – said: “At the last election, every Conservative MP was elected on a solemn promise to reduce net migration, which in 2019 stood at 229,000 per year.
“Since then, in poll after poll, the public has made clear that they are prepared to support tough measures to clamp down on overall migration numbers: legal and illegal”.
The group accused the Government of “largely ignoring” measures they have proposed, saying: “Many on our benches have warned that we were failing to make adequate progress on our promise”.
Taking a direct swipe at Sunak, the group said: “Today, we see the result of these conscious decisions by Government. Net migration has not only failed to fall since 2019, it has trebled. A million new people from abroad were added to the UK population last year. Across every single category of immigration, numbers are on the rise.
“We cannot blame exceptional circumstances, this is a constant trend. It has been caused directly by the policy decisions of this Government. And it has gone on for far too long.”
The statement adds: “The word ‘existential’ has been used a lot in recent days but this really is ‘do or die’ for our party. Each of us made a promise to the electorate. we don’t believe that such promises can be ignored.
“The Government must propose, today, a comprehensive package of measures to meet the manifesto promise by the time of the next election.”
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MP Jonathan Gullis, a member of the New Conservatives, described the figures as being “completely unacceptable to the majority of the British people”, demanding “drastic action now to bring legal migration down, as well as stopping the boats”.
He told GB News: “The Prime Minister and Home Secretary should look at the ideas of the New Conservatives in order to get these numbers down quickly.
Fellow New Conservative member Sir John Hayes slammed the figures as “appalling”.
Meanwhile, Tory MP Phillip Davies told GB News: “The net migration figures are far far too high.
“We do not have the infrastructure to cope and we certainly don’t have the housing stock to accommodate it. It is absolutely essential these numbers come down substantially as a matter of priority.”
