As immigration soars, the Tories have totally ignored their voters, says Michael Heaver

In the East of England where I'm from, the population surge was a whopping 8.3 per cent in just a decade.

Of course not all population growth in this country is driven by migration - but a large part is.

No matter what politicians say, the public can see the outcome of such a large - and I would argue irresponsible - level of population growth fuelled in part by mass migration.

It has harmed quality of life particularly for working class people, suppressed wages and put huge pressure on public services.

It's made getting on the housing ladder nigh-on impossible for so many people now. Notice how when the housing crisis in this country is discussed some speak only of supply, but never of the increasing demand nor what is actually driving it?

Outside of Westminster, the overwhelming public consensus is that the level of immigration into Britain has been too high.

YouGov's tracker on that very question found this month that 60 per cent of the public believe the level of migration in recent years has been too high.

That rises to a remarkable 87 per cent of Tory voters. But the Government don't appear to be listening nor care.

For a long time now the Conservative Leaders - as they tend to do - have talked tough without the action to match.

David Cameron as Prime Minister pledged to bring net migration down to the tens of thousands. Theresa May then did the same.

Neither could deliver with the UK embedded within the European Union, with open borders.

Voters subsequently freed this country from the EU, presuming that their Government would then follow through by bringing down levels of immigration post-Brexit.

This was the Conservative Party's big chance to realign politics in the long-term. They gained scores of seats never held before from working class, previously Labour-backing Brits who backed Brexit and wanted the Government to bring some sanity back to border policy.

To be clear, it is not anti-immigrant or anti-immigration to want numbers brought down to sensible levels. It didn't make David Cameron 'far-right' to suggest bringing levels down to the tens of thousands net per year, did it?

Yet astonishingly, post-Brexit with our Government now in control and without EU open borders, the Conservatives have chosen to totally ignore their own supporters and Brexit voters who expected the Government to restore some sanity to immigration policy in this country.

Instead of bringing levels down, we've just seen another record surge in net migration at 672,000. This is an absolutely absurd figure.

It is another eye-watering reminder that the Conservative Government don't seem to be listening or delivering what most people in this country - and virtually all of their own supporters - want to see.