How migration is becoming the latest issue to split the Tory party
What's happening? Another day, another Tory backlash for Rishi Sunak to deal with.
This time, it’s over migration: figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday showed legal net migration into the UK peaked at 745,000 in the year up to December 2022: a record high.
That means migration is three times higher than before Brexit, despite the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to bring overall numbers down.
It has prompted a fresh wave of Tory infighting - with even one of Sunak’s senior ministers saying the numbers are “unacceptable”.
In the face of this, Sunak declined to comment when asked on Friday if he would apologise for not meeting the manifesto pledge.
He then said: “I’m very clear that the levels of migration are too high and they’ve got to come down to more sustainable levels.”
Read more: Net migration hit record level of 745,000 in 2022, revised estimate shows (PA Media)
Here, Yahoo News UK sets out where the Tory backlash is coming from in the wake of the ONS figures.
What are Tory backbenchers saying?
Leading the backlash is Suella Braverman, who was sacked as home secretary by Sunak last week.
Following the ONS release, Braverman, a hardliner on immigration policy, demanded he introduces measures to honour the 2019 manifesto commitment, saying the latest migration numbers are “a slap in the face to the British public”.
She posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “When do we say: enough is enough? We were elected on a pledge to reduce net migration, which was 229k in 2019.”
Jacob Rees-Mogg, another influential backbencher on the right of the party, said he was “embarrassed” by the figures.
Neil O’Brien, who until last week was a health minister in Sunak’s government, called the numbers “extraordinary” and said he “must now take immediate and massive action”.
Meanwhile, the New Conservative group of MPs, led by Miriam Cates, Danny Kruger and Sir John Hayes, said the issue “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. The government must propose, today, a comprehensive package of measures to meet the manifesto promise by the time of the next election.”
Read more: Tories at war as Braverman attacks Sunak over ‘slap in face’ record migration numbers (The Independent)
What are Tory ministers saying?
Grumblings are emerging from within the government.
In an interview on Times Radio on Friday, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride went as far as saying the current migration numbers are “unacceptable”.
According to reports, other cabinet ministers are keen to see a crackdown on visas for foreign workers relocating to the UK to work for the NHS or in the care sector.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick is understood to have worked up a plan designed to appease calls from right-wing Tories for the government to take action.
The PA news agency has said Jenrick is pushing for a ban on foreign social care workers from bringing in any dependents and a cap on the total number of NHS and social care visas.
Downing Street has refused to say what Sunak makes of Jenrick’s proposals.
Read more: Rise in net migration threatens to undermine Rishi Sunak’s tough talk (The Guardian)
What are voters saying?
John Humphrys, the former BBC Radio 4 Today presenter, said in an article for YouGov on Friday: “Rishi Sunak is coming under a lot of pressure from [ministers] and his own backbenchers to do something about it. Something that will start producing results urgently - not least because we shall be going to the polls in the next year or so and immigration matters a lot to an awful lot of voters.”
YouGov’s own polling suggests the Tories’ authority on the issue is at a four-year low.
Asked on 20 November - before the ONS figures were released - which political party would be the best at handling asylum and immigration, only 15% of voters chose the Conservatives (compared to 21% picking Labour). This compares to 37% choosing the Tories in April 2020.
In another survey, just 10% of Tory voters on 20 November said the government is handling the issue of immigration well (85% said badly). In March 2020, 49% said it was being handled well.
On Friday, Labour accused the Tories of a “huge failure” to control migration.
Party chairwoman Anneliese Dodds told Times Radio that social care visas had risen by 156% due to ministers not putting in place higher pay arrangements or creating better career development prospects for those employed in the sector.
Asked about Jenrick’s migration-cutting plan, Dodds said it was “quite extraordinary” for such policy ideas to only be brought forward 13 years into Tory rule.
Read more: Who do you trust more with the economy, Sunak or Starmer? Here's what Yahoo readers think (Yahoo News UK)
