Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has swerved questions on whether or not he would recommit to his party’s pledge to bring down legal immigration levels.
Speaking to journalists as he travelled to the G7 summit in Japan, Sunak said he wants to see figures fall but repeatedly would not reaffirm the Tory manifesto pledge made under Boris Johnson that led them to a large majority.
Instead Sunak appeared to blame Johnson’s leadership in part for the large figures saying he had “inherited some numbers” on migration.
He also insisted voters were focused on tackling illegal migration, such as small boat crossings.
The prime minister’s remarks come just a day after the announcement that an extra 10,000 visas for seasonal workers could be made available on top of the 45,000 currently allocated to the agricultural sector.
During a farming summit in Downing Street on Tuesday, Sunak said the government was responding to the needs of farmers with the extra visas.
His comments were in apparent contrast to those made by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who on Monday said Britain could train its own fruit pickers.
In a speech at the National Conservatism conference, the Home Secretary said: “It’s not racist for anyone, ethnic minority or otherwise, to want to control our borders.”
EU Meeting
In its 2019 manifesto, the Conservative party promised that “overall numbers will come down” as the government ends freedom of movement in the wake of Brexit.Migration levels were at 226,000 then and it is expected they will rise when the latest Office for National Statistics figures are published.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Sunak said he was “committed to bringing down legal migration” but would not stand by the target.
“I’ve inherited some numbers, I want to bring the numbers down,” he said.
Pressed again if he stands by the figure, Sunak replied: “I’ve said I do want to bring legal migration down. I think illegal migration is undoubtedly the country’s priority, and you can see all the work I’m putting into that.”
The prime minister had raised migration with allies at a Council of Europe meeting in Iceland on Tuesday.
He described it as “another big step forward” with European Union President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the UK working with the bloc’s border force, Frontex.
“That is of enormous practical value to us in stopping illegal migration—that sharing intelligence, operational co-operation will make a difference to our ability to stop the boats, tackle organised crime upstream,” he said.
“That’s a very tangible result of the engagement and diplomacy that we conducted.”
Sunak also held talks with European Court of Human Rights President Siofra O’Leary, over a review of the working of Rule 39.
The order was used to block the inaugural forced removal flight of refugees to Rwanda last year.
Sunak sees the stalled policy as key to reducing unauthorised entries to the UK.
The meeting prompted one of Sunak’s own MPs to hit back.
In a video posted to Twitter on Wednesday, Andrea Jenkyns said any push to change the court is “futile” as “they ain’t gonna reform.”
“We don’t need to amend the convention, we need a British Bill of Rights, putting the power back in the British parliament and the British courts,” she said.
Urging the prime minister to “listen to the British people” she said the UK needed to “return sovereignty to Westminster, and not have these powers in the hands of European judges, serving the whims of Strasbourg and Brussels.”
Jenkyns, a Johnson supporter, made similar comments in a letter sent to Sunak which she posted alongside the video.
Barge Housing ‘Compassionate’
Asked to respond to concerns that housing asylum seekers on barges and disused military bases was an act of cruelty on the most vulnerable, Sunak insisted the government’s response was “fair and compassionate.”“I think everyone can see the challenge in communities as local hotels are being taken over to house illegal asylum seekers,” he told reporters ahead of Thursday’s G7 summit.
“It’s not a sustainable situation. It is not fair to local communities and it’s also not fair on taxpayers.
“I have tried very hard to find alternative sources of accommodation to ease those pressures and costs. That’s why we’ve bought barges.”
He insisted he will “keep doing whatever it takes” to move asylum seekers from hotels and “return them to the use they were intended for” to save taxpayers’ money.
Sunak got the backing of Environment Secretary Therese Coffey in the party’s internal tussle over immigration levels.
She told ITV’s Robert Peston the prime minister was “clearly right” to make up to 55,000 visas available for the agricultural sector, when asked whether she agreed with him or Braverman.
Coffey said farmers are concerned about crops being left in the field and that there’s a “clear” need to deploy seasonal fruit pickers.
She said the government is focused on tackling illegal immigration, rather than reducing net migration levels and the number of foreign workers.
“I’m conscious that overall we want to see a focus on bringing down overall migration as we train and upskill people right across the country. But the key focus, quite rightly, for the prime minister and the home secretary, is focusing on the illegal migration.”
Asked about concerns over the impact of a rise in legal migration on resources, Coffey said there is more pressure on housing supply because of “more family breakdown.”
“What I think is fair to say is that we are still seeing different challenges on housing around the country, but it does vary around the country,” she said.
“And one of the things—people are getting older, living longer.
“We also have more family breakdown. So with more housing needed that way.”
She added, “I think historically, we’ve seen an increase in the number of households has increased as family breakdown meant that we needed more homes in that regard.”
