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Rishi Sunak under mounting pressure as net migration soars to record high

2023-11-23 00:00:00.0 独立报-英国新闻原网页

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Rishi Sunak facing a major backlash from right-wing Tory MPs as net migration to the UK soared to a record high.

Official figures showed migration in 2022 is estimated to have hit 745,000, a huge revision upward from an earlier estimate of 606,000.

And the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that in the year to June, a total of 1.2 million people arrived to live in the UK, leaving overall net migration at 672,000.

The figures mean the population of England and Wales is now growing at the fastest rate since 1962.

The prime minister is under pressure to deliver on a 2019 manifesto pledge to bring the number of people migrating to Britain down – a pledge made when the figures were less than three times the level they are today.

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The New Conservatives group of 35 right-wing Tory MPs said Thursday’s figures were “existential” for the party and called for urgent action.

“At the last election, every Conservative MP was elected on a solemn promise to reduce net migration, which in 2019 stood at 229,000 per year,” the group said in a statement.

It called for a “comprehensive package” of measures today to bring migration below the 229,000 mark before the next election. In a warning to the under-fire PM, the group said: “We will assess any such package and report publicly on whether it will meet the promise made to the electorate.”

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The group said: “The prime minister, chancellor, and new home secretary must show that they stand by the promises on which we were elected to parliament. We must act now.

“The word ‘existential’ has been used a lot in recent days but this really is ‘do or die’ for our party. Each of us made a promise to the electorate. We don’t believe that such promises can be ignored.”

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis said the net migration surge was “completely unacceptable”.

“We must take drastic action now to bring legal migration down, as well as do whatever we must to stop the boats,” Mr Gullis added.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper also stuck the boot in, saying the figures showed “the scale of utter Tory failure on immigration”.

In May, the ONS estimated that net migration stood at 606,000, a figure Mr Sunak described as “too high”, adding: “I want to bring them down.”

However, in a bombshell revelation, the Office for National Statistics has now revised its estimate for 2022’s net migration figure to 745,000, meaning Thursday’s figure represents a slight dip.

The ONS figures showed almost all of the net migration to the UK was driven by non-EU citizens. The increase was mainly due to migrants coming for work, predominantly those coming on health and care visas.

People arriving via humanitarian routes such as Ukrainian refugees and Hong Kong citizens decreased from 19 per to 9 per cent of the total over the same period.

Home secretary James Cleverly, who replaced Suella Braverman last week, brushed off the increase in migration. He said: “This figure is not showing a significant increase from last year’s figures and is largely in line with our own immigration statistics.”

“The government remains completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration while at the same time focusing relentlessly on our priority of stopping the boats,” Mr Cleverly added.

Thursday’s figures show a total of 40,386 people crossed the channel in small boats in the 12 months to June.

As well as concerns over the net migration figure, Mr Sunak is under intense pressure to deliver on his “stop the boats” pledge.

The PM’s plans faced a major setback when the Supreme Court ruled a scheme to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda unlawful.

He is now pinning his hopes on a new treaty with the African country which he hopes will address judges’ concerns. Mr Sunak is also planning to pass legislation ruling Rwanda a “safe” country to get the deportation scheme up and running.

Pressure to “stop the boats” will also mount after a man and a woman drowned on Wednesday when a small boat trying to cross the Channel to the UK capsized just after leaving the French coast.

One person was airlifted to safety while at least 57 others were rescued by boat and taken to the French town of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Several of those rescued were suffering from hypothermia, the authorities said.

The boat reportedly got into difficulty in French waters shortly after 1pm (local time) and drowned.

The last Channel deaths were reported on 12 August when six Afghans drowned after their boat capsized. That was the worst small boat accident since 24 November 2021, when at least 27 people died in an overloaded boat.

More than 27,200 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, against a record 45,000 in 2022, according to British authorities.

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1/ 2Rishi Sunak under mounting pressure as net migration hits new record

Rishi Sunak under mounting pressure as net migration hits new record

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during the Conservative Party annual conference in Manchester

Rishi Sunak under mounting pressure as net migration hits new record

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaking during a press conference (PA)

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