Rise in net migration threatens to undermine Rishi Sunak’s tough talk

Rishi Sunak onboard a Border Agency vessel in June. His tactic has been to focus on the problem of small boats. Photograph: Reuters

Of Boris Johnson’s many broken promises, his failure to “take back control” of post-Brexit immigration is the one that Tory MPs believe matters most to their voters.

Johnson has long fled the scene – Rishi Sunak is instead getting the blame from his New Conservative backbenchers who predict they will be punished at the ballot box in the “red wall” of the north and Midlands.