Labour will not bring down immigration- their policies will do the opposite - John Redwood
'Labour, Lib Dem and SNP have no policies to bring legal number down faster or more,' says John Redwood
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The Prime Minister was right to apologise for the big surge in migration into the U.K. over the last four years. Many Brexit voters wanted an end to freedom of movement and proper controls on people coming into the U.K.
We voted to take back control, recognising that granting hundreds of thousands of new visas every year places too much strain on housing, public services and our utilities.
It is not fair either to the settled community or to the new migrants if you grant too many visas.
Rents and house prices soar, NHS queues get longer, our shortage of waste water pipes and electricity gets more acute. We should want those we do invite to enjoy a decent standard of living.
The government can point out Ukraine refugees and people fleeing Hong Kong were special cases that we do not expect to repeat.
It still left far too many work visas granted for people to take low paid jobs and then needing taxpayer support with top up benefits, subsidised housing and public services.
This year those of us demanding much lower legal migration did get some important changes that are starting to get numbers down.
Rules have been tightened on brining in dependents, the amount you need to earn to get a work permit has gone up a lot, and adjustments are being made to the priority lists and carers scheme. A lot more action is needed because the numbers are still far too high given our housing and public service capacities.
Electors are understandably angry about the lack of control over our borders since we left the EU despite gaining the power to cut numbers if we wished.
Conservatives are now putting in policies to bring them down. Labour, Lib Dem and SNP meanwhile want more safe routes to allow more to come. They have no policies to bring legal numbers down faster or more.
They want to co-operate more with the EU who would like us to take more. They want to abandon the Rwanda scheme designed to deter illegal travellers, whilst proposing a special Border Command which we already have.
All parties want to co-operate with France which again is what this government is doing. It still leaves many small boats escaping the French authorities and making dangerous illegal journeys from French beaches. Co-operation with Belgium seems more successful.
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The main Opposition parties think large scale migration is generally a good thing. They have not said it causes housing and public service shortages.
Of the three parties Labour have paid lip service to the need to bring it down, yet their policies might do the opposite. They are talking of an amnesty for illegals already here and new routes for more legal arrivals.
For voters who do want some greater control over our borders the main Opposition parties in Parliament would take us in the wrong direction.
Inviting in 650,000 extra people a year requires us to build two cities the size of Nottingham or four the size of Cambridge just to provide for one year of extra people. We have never got anywhere near that sort of build rate, nor are we about to.