Rishi Sunak on Monday vowed tougher action to curb “abuses” in the immigration system as pressure mounted from the Conservative Right to stop a surge in numbers of incoming workers and students.
The Prime Minister hailed £29.5 billion of new investment into the UK as he convened a summit with more than 200 leading CEOs and investors at Hampton Court Palace, but remained dogged by questions about last week's migration statistics and Autumn Statement.
“I'm very clear that the levels of net migration are too high. They need to come down to more sustainable levels,” Mr Sunak told reporters after new data showed 745,000 more people moved to the UK than left in the year to December 2022 - three times higher than before Brexit.
“It’s encouraging that the Office for National Statistics last week did say that the numbers are already slowing. I've already taken action to tighten the number of dependants that students can bring when they come and study here,” he said.
“But of course, as we need to do more, we'll look at that and where there are abuses of the system, we will of course act on it. Because the levels do need to come down - they are too high.”
The PM remained under pressure after new allegations by allies of ousted home secretary Suella Braverman that he had failed to act on the hot-button issue.
No10 denies any written deal with Ms Braverman, but came under further pressure after new Home Secretary James Cleverly appeared to play down the importance of the Government’s plan to deport illegal migrants to Rwanda, which has been blocked by the Supreme Court.
After the November 15 court ruling, Downing Street vowed to elevate the Rwanda agreement to a treaty and to introduce an emergency bill so deportation flights could take off “as soon as possible”.
But pressed on whether the new legally binding pact with Rwanda would be signed before the Christmas break, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “It’s due to be published in the coming weeks.
“I think people understand that following the judgment, which was relatively recently, it’s right to ensure we have the strongest possible position because we want both the treaty and the bill to have the best possible chance of success and that’s why we are focused on finalising these details.”
Answering questions in the House of Commons on Monday, Mr Cleverly and Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick defended their plans but insisted Rwanda was not the only option to deal with illegal migration.
To curb legal migration, the Home Office is reportedly looking at measures such as a ban on foreign social care workers from bringing in any dependants. No10 would not be drawn on the measures coming.
But in his latest Daily Mail column on Friday, Boris Johnson added his voice to demands from Ms Braverman's allies for more action. The current minimum salary for most migrant workers of £26,000 was “way too low” and should be raised to at least £40,000, the former PM said.
However, the Government faces warnings that hard-pressed hospitals and care homes cannot afford to turn off the stream of incoming staff.
Professor Brian Bell, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee which advises ministers on immigration, expressed told The Observer: “You can’t encourage enough British people to do the work in social care because it’s so badly paid. If you make it harder for migrants to come in on the route … that might begin to reduce the number who are coming in.
“That will reduce net migration, and so the government might be happy with that. But I think you have to ask the question, if you do it from the migration perspective, and you achieve that policy objective, aren’t you massively harming the social care sector?”
Mr Sunak meanwhile told Bloomberg TV it was “simply unfounded” that his Government is planning a new period of painful austerity in public spending after last week’s Autumn Statement.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s interim budget contained £20 billion in tax cuts but independent think tanks argue that they are being paid for by real-terms cuts to Government spending in the years ahead, while the personal tax burden will still go up because thresholds remain frozen.
Asked if he was concerned about the prospect of Conservative MPs being enticed away by Richard Tice’s Reform Party, the PM told reporters at Hampton Court Palace: “I’m focused on delivering for the British people.
“We’ve had a very positive Autumn Statement where we’re now cutting taxes for 28 million workers across the UK – that’s going to come in in January to ease the burden on the cost of living.
“We’re cutting taxes for businesses so that they can invest in our future growth and create jobs.
“And this summit represents the enormous positive momentum behind the UK economy, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
