Tories risk breaking Brexit pledge as more than a million migrants set to head to Britain before next election
Rishi Sunak made stopping Channel crossing migrants one of his five priorities
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The Tory Party risks breaking its key Brexit pledge as more than one million migrants look set to arrive in Britain before the next general election.
The Home Office is predicting a sharp rise in immigration before Britons next head to the polls.
Another 1.1 million foreign workers and students are projected to head to the United Kingdom in 2024 unless ministers get a grip of numbers.
A 12-page analysis forecast sent to Downing Street forecast work and study visa applications to soar by as much as 40 per cent in the three years to 2024-25.
An image of UK Border control
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More than 700,000 overseas students and 320,000 skilled workers are also expected to settle in the UK in that year alone.
The Net Migration Briefing from August 2022 warned there was only a “limited window” to make changes as new policies would “take time to implement”.
But the Conservative Party has been promising to take back control of British borders since the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union in 2016.
Boris Johnson pledged to fix the UK’s immigration system and even reduce “overall numbers” in 2019.
An image taken from Heathrow showing people queue at passport control
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Rishi Sunak has also spoken out about Britain’s asylum system by making stopping boats from illegally crossing the Channel one of his five priorities.
The Prime Minister will tell fellow leaders at the Council of Europe later today that tackling the Channel crossing crisis is not just an issue.
But Sunak’s spokesman denied the Prime Minister had any knowledge of the migration policy document.
A source told The Telegraph: “It was before the current Prime Minister’s time.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has put pressure on Number 10 to reduce net migrationGB NewsThe UK posted its record net migration figure of 504,000 last summer and experts warn the total could top 700,000 for the year ending December.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman voiced concern about illegal migration and the “importance of controlling legal migration” when she delivered her keynote speech at the National Conservatism Conference in London yesterday.
The 12-page policy document put forward several “policy levers” to bring down net migration.
Capping immigration routes, scrapping some specialist visa schemes and increasing the skilled workers’ salary thresholds were all among potential ideas touted in the briefing.
The Conservative Party promised to bring down “overall numbers” of immigrants in the 2019 general election
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Immigration and asylum remains an important issue for voters, particularly among those who supported the Conservative Party in 2019.
One-in-three voters believe immigration and asylum is a major issue facing the United Kingdom, an opinion poll by YouGov has revealed.
The economy and healthcare were the only two issues which attracted more concern from voters.
The number of people worried about immigration and asylum rose to 58 per cent with Tory voters and 57 per cent with Britons who backed Brexit in 2016 but the economy still emerged as the leading issue with these key voter groups.