Rishi Sunak admits immigration is ‘too high’ after net number hit a new record of 745,000 a year – but PM dodges Tory demands for curbs on health workers bringing family to the UK
Rishi Sunak admitted immigration is ‘too high’ today but dodged Tory calls for a crackdown on health workers bringing family members.
The PM said numbers must come down to a more ‘sustainable’ level after it emerged net inflows had hit an eye-watering new record of 745,000 in a year.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Sunak stressed that ‘tough’ action was already being taken so people coming to study undergraduate courses could not be accompanied dependants.
However, he stopped short of committing to any further steps. Instead he stressed there were signs numbers are reducing, and the government will consider if there is evidence of ‘abuse of the system’.
During a visit to the Nissan plant in Sunderland, Mr Sunak said: ‘I’m very clear that the levels of migration are too high and they’ve got to come down to more sustainable levels. I’ve been clear about that.
Rishi Sunak admitted immigration is ‘too high’ today but dodged Tory calls for a crackdown on health workers bringing family members
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday revised up its previous estimate for long-term net migration in 2022 to 745,000 – the highest ever. Numbers were down slightly to 672,000 in the year to June
Former home secretary Suella Braverman insisted ‘enough is enough’ after bombshell data showed net migration hit a record 1.3million over the past two years
‘It is good to see that the ONS (Office for National Statistics) yesterday did say that the levels of migration are now slowing — in their words — which is a welcome step. But we’ve got more to go. That is why I announced a policy earlier to clamp down on the number of dependents that students can bring when they’re coming here, where we’ve seen a very significant rise in that.
‘That action I took represents the single toughest measure that anyone has taken to bring down the levels of legal migration in a very long time.
‘So that should give people a sense of my commitment to bringing migration down. And if we see further abuse of the system, of course we’re prepared to act to do more.’
It is understood that new Home Secretary James Cleverly is looking at ‘a range’ of options to tackle abuses of the system while ensuring that ‘gaps’ in the labour market can be filled. But changes do not appear to be imminent.
His predecessor Suella Braverman has led demands for harsher curbs, including an overall cap on legal migration and restrictions on health workers bringing family to the UK.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is rumoured to have drawn up a five-point plan that features similar ideas.
However, there are concerns among ministers that cutting off the supply of foreign labour could harm the economy.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday revised up its previous estimate for long-term net migration in 2022 to 745,000 – the highest ever.
Numbers were down slightly to 672,000 in the year to June after inflows from crisis-hit countries such as Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan eased.
But separate figures released by the Home Office yesterday indicated that work visas were up to 335,447 in the year to September – 35 per cent higher than the previous 12 months.
Another 250,297 visas were granted to the dependants of workers, 89 per cent more than the year before.
Some 143,990 work visas were for the health and care sector, and they were accompanied by 173,896 dependants on visas.
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