Kemi Badenoch has admitted that Brexit isn’t working, saying the previous government “did not deliver” after the country voted to end free movement.
It comes as the Tories promised to offer a “new leader with a new approach” to tackle high levels of migration, warning: “The system is broken, and, until we accept that, all politicians are doomed to fail.”
“We ended free movement, but the system that replaced it is not working,” the Tory leader told a press conference in Westminster. “Under my leadership, we are learning from our mistakes.”
Pre-empting the publication of net migration figures on Thursday, Ms Badenoch said: “Tomorrow’s figures will likely show a reduction in net immigration and no doubt the new government will try to take credit for that reduction. But that change is due to the reforms that the Conservatives made during our final months in power.”
At the end of 2023, the party announced an increase to the minimum earning threshold for overseas workers by nearly 50 per cent from its current position of £26,200 to £38,700, as well as ending the 20 per cent going-rate salary discount for shortage occupations.
Speaking alongside shadow immigration minister Chris Philp, she pledged to introduce a hard cap on the number of arrivals in the UK, and a “zero tolerance policy” for illegal migration.
“Millions want to come here, but we as politicians have to do right by the citizens of this country before anyone else,” the Tory leader said.
She also promised to review the UK’s membership of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“We will review every policy, treaty and part of our legal framework, including the ECHR and the Human Rights Act. And in designing our detailed policies will put the following elements at the core –a strict numerical cap with visas only for those who will make a substantial and clear overall contribution,” she said.
The Tory leader called for a “reconsidered approach to citizenship”, saying a British passport should be a “privilege to be earned, not an automatic right”.
The shadow home secretary accused Labour of being “reluctant to talk about immigration much at all”, claiming: “The truth is they don’t have the answers.”
Mr Philp said the Conservatives had taken “some steps” to reduce migration, adding: “It is also true that we need to go much further to take tougher measures, as Kemi set out a few minutes ago.
“And those tougher measures will include a hard cap on numbers and zero tolerance for illegal migration. So with a new leader, the Conservatives will develop a new approach.”
Labour scrapped the Tory party’s Rwanda plan in their first week in office, after the previous government failed to get a single flight off the runway.
The scheme – which cost £700m in total – was bound up in legal challenges and opposition from MPs and peers, becoming a symbol of the party’s failed attempts to tackle rising immigration.
Asked why the Conservative Party should be trusted again, Ms Badenoch said: “To earn back trust you need to acknowledge where you got things wrong, and we are acknowledging today that while we may have tried, we did not deliver.
“We brought in a points-based system that I personally thought was only going to allow skilled migrants in and instead it allowed a lot of people at low incomes and with dependants.
“So we are going to change that. But we want people to know that we recognise their frustration and in many cases, certainly in mine, we share it.”
Angela Eagle, minister for border security and asylum, said: “It’s welcome the Tories finally accept that immigration spiralled out of control on their watch. But Kemi Badenoch offers no new ideas or alternative to her party’s failed policies of the past.”
She added: “The Conservatives wasted hundreds of millions of pounds in taxpayers’ cash on the Rwanda gimmick, and it’s clear they would do it all over again. The Tories have learned nothing.
“Labour is fixing the foundations and getting a grip on the Tories’ immigration chaos. Our new Border Security Command is working with our European partners to smash the criminal gang networks driving small boat crossings, and we’re ramping up the removal of people with no right to be in the UK.”
