Rishi Sunak’s government will unveil a major set of measures to bring down net migration to the UK after figures soared to a record high.
The PM is to overhaul a series of visa rules to curb net migration after shock official figures showed net migration stood at 745,000 in 2022.
The shake-up is set to include a big increase in the salary threshold for migrants and a crackdown on social care staff bringing dependents to the UK.
Mr Sunak has been under severe pressure from right-wing Tory MPs to act since the immigration figures were released, with sacked home secretary Suella Braverman describing them as a “slap in the face”.
Home secretary James Cleverly will announce the shakeup with a statement to MPs at 3.30pm on Monday. The current salary threshold of £26,200 is expected to be hiked to £38,000.
And one official confirmed that the number of dependents that social care workers are permitted to bring into Britain will also be cut back in the package.
Mr Sunak and Mr Cleverly are also said to be ready to overhaul of the shortage occupation list, under which companies can pay foreign workers in shortage areas 20 per cent below the going rate.
A senior Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph that people “will be surprised at how strong a package it is”.
But it is not clear whether Mr Sunak will limit the total number of NHS and social care visas – a move immigration minister Robert Jenrick has been pushing for under a five-point plan.
Mr Jenrick is also thought to have pushed for an increase in the minimum £18,600 income required for a UK citizen to bring a dependant into the UK on a family visa.
Privately, two sources said Ms Braverman and immigration minister Mr Jenrick had both pushed for the main salary threshold cap to go even higher – to £45,000.
No 10 would not confirm any details – but said the legal migration package will crack down on “abuse” in the system. “The numbers are too high, there is evidence of abuse in the system and that’s what we will clamp down on.”
In apparent rift with No 10, Mr Jenrick told MPs last week that his own immigration plan “would have been brought to the House before last Christmas if I could have done” – hinting that it had been blocked by Downing Street.
The right-wing immigration minister – a close ally of Ms Braverman – also suggested he was keen to consider her idea of a radical “Australia-style” cap on annual net migration numbers. “There are definitely strong arguments,” Mr Jenrick told parliament last week.
After a new JL Partners survey found that just 59 per cent of 2019 Tories plan to vote Conservative – with one in six 2019 Tory voters switching to Reform UK – pollster James Johnson said: “Only one option for the Conservatives now: go big on immigration or go home.”
The issue has opened up huge divides in the Tory party, with the New Conservative group of around 35 right-wing Tory MPs exerting huge pressure on Mr Sunak to take radical steps to cut numbers.
But senior Tory moderates, including health committee chair Steve Brine, urged Mr Sunak not to clamp down on NHS and social care visas. “They are the people who look after your ailing parents and grandparents,” he said.
The major overhaul comes as the home secretary prepares to finalise an updated agreement with Rwanda to take deported asylum seekers.
Mr Cleverly is set to fly to Kigali to sign off on a new deal after the government’s plan was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court. British lawyers could be sent to Rwandan courts in order to address concerns about the country’s legal system.
The Sunday Times reported that Kigali is to be given a £15m top-up payment to agree fresh terms on its agreement with the UK to take migrants who arrive in Britain via small boats.
But No 10 insisted there had been no demand for extra money. The PM’s official spokesman said: “Certainly I don’t recognise that figure of £15m, there’s been no request for additional funding for the treaty made by Rwanda, or not offered by the UK government.”
Senior civil servants at the Home Office are said to have warned No 10 that the emergency Rwanda legislation is destined to fail since the moves to get around the Supreme Court will be defeated in the court once again.
One Home Office source told The Times: “No 10 is very gungho but they’re trying to push this through for political reasons and they don’t know what they’re doing legally. Legislating to say Rwanda is safe doesn’t mean it is true … It’s all gimmicks.”
Government lawyers are reportedly refusing to sanction the most draconian version of the legislation that would opt out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by using a “notwithstanding” clause to direct UK judges to ignore the ECHR on asylum cases.
Senior Tory Mark Francois warned Mr Sunak that he must make sure the UK can opt out of the ECHR as part of the emergency Rwanda legislation.
The chair of the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers told GB News that angry voters “want the boats stopped”. He added: “If it’s complex because of the ECHR, they expect us as legislators to work through that to come up with a solution”.
Mr Francois warned Mr Sunak: “Rishi promised to stop the boats but as [Tory deputy chairman] Lee Anderson very bluntly pointed out a few weeks ago, well, he hasn’t has he? … We’ve had two goes before. Now it’s three strikes and you’re out”.
