Rishi Sunak is adamant not to crumble under Tory pressure as the UK saw net migration hit a record high. Net migration hit a record high of 745,000 in the year to December 2022, three times pre-Brexit levels. 

The UK Prime Minister acknowledged that immigration needed to fall to more sustainable levels with Tory MPs demanding an immediate and massive action to meet the party’s manifesto pledge to reduce the net immigration to the tens of thousands.

Suella Braverman, the sacked Home Secretary, described the newly released figures as a slap in the face to the British public, who had voted for lower migration. She said the government must act now to cut the numbers coming to the UK. “The pressure on housing, the NHS, schools, wages, and community cohesion, is unsustainable. When do we say, enough is enough?”

Rishi Sunak in Hot Water

Miriam Cates, the co-chairman of the New Conservatives group, said failing to deliver on this issue is more serious than failing to cut taxes or taking too long to build hospitals – mass migration is changing the nature of Britain forever. The Conservative Party’s 2019 manifesto pledged to bring down the overall numbers.

Sunak said he is very much aware that the levels of migration are too high and they’ve got to come down to more sustainable levels. He highlighted that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded that immigration was slowing. However, the prime minister added that they have get the numbers of people coming to the UK down.

Downing Street also admitted that net migration was too high and promised to leave no stone unturned in tackling abuse of the visa system. The UK government is actively considering measures to curb net migration.

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Rishi Sunak Has a Lot to Do

Sunak said there is obviously a lot more to do. “That’s why we need to take action. I announced previously significantly tightening up on the number of dependents that students can bring, which has seen a very striking rise over the past year or two. This represents the single biggest measure of restriction on legal migration that anyone’s announced in years. 

“That should give people a sense of my determination to bring these numbers down. As we go over them, as we see other areas of abuse, we won’t hesitate to take action and clamp down.”He added that he needs to finish the job, meaning to get the Rwanda deal back on the table and doing whatever necessary to get the scheme operational.

The UK immigration minister Robert Jenrick is working on a proposal that includes scraping the shortage occupation list, which the migration advisory committee wants to abolish.