Rishi Sunak has set a new goal of bringing migration down below the level he “inherited”, which was about 500,000 net arrivals a year when he became prime minister.
He redefined his target on immigration after earlier in the week backing away from the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto promise to reduce it below the level then of about 220,000.
Sunak said he would not put a number on the level of net immigration he would like to see but he wanted it to come down below what it was when he took over. Figures released in November show net immigration was 500,000 for the year to June 2022.
Experts believe net immigration figures for this year could come in at between 600,000 and 1 million, prompting a backlash among Conservative backbenchers.
Speaking to broadcasters at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Sunak said he was “crystal clear” he wanted to reduce immigration, but when pressed on how far, he said: “I’m not going to put a precise figure on it but I do want to bring them down.”
He said: “The numbers are too high and we want to bring them down. Now, the numbers last year were impacted by the fact that we welcomed Ukrainian refugees to the UK. Again, that’s something I think we are proud of.”
Asked by Sky News whether he could bring down net immigration to below 500,000 by the next election, he said: “I’m committed to bringing down the levels of migration that I inherited, and I’m relentlessly focused on stopping the boats, that’s one of my five priorities, and we’re doing absolutely everything we can to do that.”
Sunak has repeatedly said he wants to bring down levels of net immigration but also defended the system of legal migration to the UK.
“When it comes to legal migration, the key thing for people to know is we’re in control of why people are here, the circumstances and the terms on which they are here, making sure they contribute, to public services like the NHS, for example. Those are all now part of our migration system and they weren’t before,” he said.
The prime minister stressed that the difficult task of stopping “illegal” migration in small boats across the Channel was a bigger priority. “I do think most people’s number one priority when it comes to migration is illegal migration, that is crystal clear to me,” he said.
Sunak’s redefinition of the Conservatives’ aims on immigration put him at odds with the home secretary, Suella Braverman, and many on the right of the Tories.
Braverman said at the National Conservatism conference this week that the party should honour its 2019 manifesto commitment to bring down net immigration, which was then at about 225,000.
Adam Holloway, a Conservative backbencher, told GB News on Thursday: “It’s completely insane. I mean, who would have thought that a Conservative government would be drawing millions more people into the high-rate tax bracket? Who would think that a Conservative government was presiding over effectively uncontrolled immigration?”
