Suella Braverman sends huge warning to Rishi Sunak over 'out of control' migration

 

Suella Braverman sends huge warning to Rishi Sunak over 'out of control' migration

 

EXCLUSIVE: The former Home Secretary blasted Rishi Sunak for failing to prevent a "national disaster" as it was revealed a record number of foreign workers arrived in the UK last year.

 

By MICHAEL KNOWLES, Home Affairs and Defence Editor

19:24, Thu, Feb 29, 2024 | UPDATED: 20:27, Thu, Feb 29, 2024

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1872408/Suella-Braverman-Rishi-Sunak-migration-net-migration

 

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Suella Braverman has warned current levels of immigration “cannot go on” as she said Britain will become “unrecognisable” unless the number of people coming to the country is cut.

 

The former Home Secretary declared “we don’t have enough homes, GPs or schools” to support the 1.4 million people granted visas last year.

 

And she criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for failing to prevent “this national disaster”.

 

Official figures yesterday showed record numbers of foreign workers arrived last year, with 616,371 work visas issued – up from 421,565 in 2022.

 

 

 

 

The number of foreign employees issued with a health and social care visa has also skyrocketed, the Home Office figures show.

 

But Mrs Braverman, who was sacked in November, blasted the Rishi Sunak’s record on cutting migration, warning: “1.4 million people were granted visas here last year. Asylum approvals at a record high.

 

“Work and student visa numbers, including many dependents, are appalling. This cannot go on. We don’t have enough homes, GPs or schools to support this level.

 

“The PM must adopt policies I pushed for that would have prevented this national disaster: we need a cap on overall numbers.

 

"Britain will be unrecognisable if this carries on. It’s not what the British people, including me, voted for."

 

The Home Office issued 616,371 work visas to foreign employees and their family members, 605,504 to students from abroad and their relatives, 85,640 family visas, 17,705 family permits to European citizens, 41,767 visas to Ukrainian refugees and 28,303 to Hong Kong residents in the year to December.

 

The think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, said the number of visas issued on “core routes” – work, study and family – had increased to 1.29 million – up from 1.09 million in 2022.

 

The number of visa extensions has also surged by 22 percent last year.

 

Mrs Braverman told the Daily Express: “There has been a lot of resistance around the Cabinet table to reducing overall numbers for a number of years.

 

“It’s part of traditional Treasury and OBR logic which states that more people equals a bigger economy. But this is a con.

 

“We’ve artificially kept growth running at less than 1% by pumping millions more people from abroad into the economy at the expense of our own citizens who have seen wages depressed and living standards fall for years.

 

“We owe it to the British people to sort this out - it’s existential and what has been consistently voted for over decades and a large part of why we voted for Brexit.”

 

But a Government source said of the warnings: “The period covered by these figures was when she was Home Secretary, so this is her own record she’s criticising.”

 

The number of such visas approved by the Home Office doubled to 146,477.

 

And the number of dependents granted visas has rocketed to 279,131 – up 80 percent. Relatives of those issued a health and care visa accounted for 73 percent of dependants who arrived in the year to December.

 

The number of care workers granted visas tripled to 105,881 after rules were relaxed to fill 150,000 vacancies in the sector.

 

Home Office figures showed that Indian (18,664), Nigerian (18,143) and Zimbabwean (15,279) nationals accounted for almost six in 10 (58%) of the visas granted to care workers and home carer occupations last year.

 

Indian nationals accounted for more than half (51 percent) of visa grants for nurses (11,322 grants), and just under a third (32 percent) of senior care worker visas (5,301 grants), the department said.

 

Union bosses have claimed the care sector would collapse without a migrant workforce.

 

Migration Watch Chairman Alp Mehmet said: "Yet more astonishing figures. Immigration remains completely out of control. This is what happens when the reins are handed to employers, universities and special interest groups.

 

“If net migration continues at present levels our population will increase by over 20 million people within 25 years, posing serious risks to future cohesion, stability and the economy.

 

“With population growth equating to 18 cities the size of Birmingham, the integration of newcomers will be all but impossible.”