Richard Tice has called for the UK Government to abolish the Home Office, amid mounting fury over the escalating migrant crisis.
He said it is “not fit for purpose”, calling for it to be “put in the bin”.
The comments come in the wake of the latest net migration figures from the Office for National Statistics, which showed that net migration hit a record 745,000 in the year ending December 2022.
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.
WATCH: Richard Tice takes aim at legal migration numbers
Speaking to the Telegraph, Tice said: “We need a whole new Department of Immigration.
“The Home Office is not fit for purpose. It needs to be, frankly, just put in the bin.
“Just start again with a new Department of Immigration, staffed by people who believe in the cause of sovereign independence. That is critical.”
Yesterday’s figures sparked fury from within the Conservative Party, with a group of MPs admitting that the party is facing an “existential” threat at the next election as a result of the crisis.
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.”
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.
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.”
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Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman described the latest figures as a “slap in the face to the British public”, saying: “enough is enough”
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Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman described the latest figures as a “slap in the face to the British public”, saying: “enough is enough”.
The former Home Secretary, who was sacked earlier this month, suggested Rishi Sunak had blocked measures to prevent migration, which she claimed she had been “pushing for” when she was in the Home Office.
Braverman claimed she pushed for an annual cap on net migration; an increase to the salary threshold, taking it to £45,000; the closure of the graduate visa route; a cap on the number of health and social care visas; and limits on the number of dependents on all visas.
