Sunak faces Tory backlash as net migration to UK
hits record high
PM under pressure from ministers and Conservative
backbenchers to crack down on overseas workers
Jamie
Grierson
@JamieGrierson
Fri 24 Nov
2023 09.03 CET
Rishi Sunak
is facing a backlash from his own ministers after figures revealed that legal
migration to the UK is at an all-time high.
The
immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, is understood to be pushing for a
five-point migration plan that includes proposals to ban foreign social care
workers from bringing in any dependants and a cap on the total number of NHS
and social care visas.
Other
cabinet ministers are said to be demanding a crackdown on visas for overseas
workers relocating to the UK to work for the NHS or in the care sector, while
the Daily Telegraph says Conservative MPs are demanding “immediate and massive”
action.
Official
figures published on Thursday showed net migration – the difference between
people legally arriving in the country and those emigrating – peaking at
745,000 in the year to December 2022, which was a record high according to the
Office for National Statistics (ONS). The data places migration levels at three
times higher than before Brexit.
Jenrick’s
plan is said to include proposals to scrap the shortage occupation list, a
programme that allows foreign workers to be paid 20% below the going rate in
roles where there is a shortage of skilled workers.
The
government’s migration advisory committee has already recommended the abolition
of the list amid fears it is being used to bring cheap foreign labour into the
UK.
Calls to
curb the number of foreign workers in the NHS and social care are likely to be
met with resistance by health officials amid chronic staff shortages across the
health and care sector.
ONS data
for the year to June 2023 shows a lower net migration figure of 672,000. Though
this was a year-on-year increase of 65,000, it has led to speculation that net
migration may be on a downward trend, though the ONS said it was too early to
tell.
The
increase in net migration in the year to June 2023 was driven by an increase in
people and their families arriving for work, notably in NHS and social care
roles.
There were
322,000 work-related visas issued for this period, up from 198,000 in the year
to June 2022. Nearly two-thirds of work visas went to Indian, Nigerian and
Zimbabwean nationals, suggesting non-EU workers are replacing EU workers in
sectors of the economy that are struggling to recruit staff since Brexit.
The
backbench Tory MP Suella Braverman, who was home secretary for a year before
she was sacked earlier this month, said on social media: “Today’s record
numbers are a slap in the face to the British public who have voted to control
and reduce migration at every opportunity. We must act now to reduce migration
to sustainable levels. Brexit gave us the tools. It’s time to use them.”
Braverman’s
successor as home secretary, James Cleverly, told the Times: “This figure is
not showing a significant increase from last year’s figures and is largely in
line with our immigration statistics.”
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