A group of Tory MPs is calling on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to drastically cut migration, warning the failure to do so “risks eroding public trust”.
Quoted among others by the BBC, the New Conservatives have issued a 12-point plan to cut net migration by about 400 000 before the next election.
The group of 25 members of Parliament recommend closing visa schemes for care workers, increasing salary thresholds, and capping refugee numbers.
But critics say the proposals would have consequences for the UK economy.
Net migration rose to 606 000 in the past year – the highest figure on record – despite numerous pledges from the Conservatives in the past 13 years to bring the numbers down.
The Office for National Statistics said the rise in numbers of immigrants was largely driven by more people from outside the European Union arriving on student and work visas, and refugees fleeing conflict and persecution in Ukraine and Hong Kong.
The sharp increase represents a huge political challenge for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives, who have repeatedly promised to reduce net migration since taking power in 2010.
Prime Minister Sunak also faces trouble in the courts over his policy to tackle illegal migration, with the Court of Appeal ruling this week that the government’s plan to send people to Rwanda was unlawful.
In the report the New Conservatives claim the British public “did not vote for mass migration and the social and economic harms it brings”.
“Without swift action to get migration under control, the Conservative Party will further erode the trust of hundreds of thousands of voters who lent the party their vote in 2019,” the report says.
