Suella Braverman blasts soaring migration and accuses Sunak of BLOCKING plan to curb numbers: 'A slap in the face to the British public!'

The former Home Secretary, who was sacked earlier this month, suggested Rishi Sunak had blocked measures to prevent migration, which she claimed she had been "pushing for" when she was in the Home Office.

Braverman claimed she pushed for an annual cap on net migration; an increase to the salary threshold, taking it to £45,000; the closure of the graduate visa route; a cap on the number of health and social care visas; and limits on the number of dependents on all visas.

WATCH: Richard Tice takes aim at legal migration numbers 

Writing on Twitter, the former minister said: "Today’s record migration stats show we’ve let in an extra million people in just 2 years, a population equivalent to Birmingham.

"The pressure on housing, the NHS, schools, wages, and community cohesion, is unsustainable. When do we say: enough is enough?

"We were elected on a pledge to reduce net migration, which was 229k in 2019.

"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."

She added: "Brexit gave us the tools. It’s time to use them.

"As [Home Secretary], I pushed to: put an annual cap on net migration; raise the salary threshold to £45k (excluding health & social care); close the graduate visa route; cap health & social care visas; limit dependents on all visas."

Revised figures published this morning showed that net migration in the year to December 2022 soared to a record 745,000.

While the figures were previously estimated to be around 606,000 in the year ending December 2022, the ONS updated their estimates.

Today's figures put net migration to the year June 2023 at 672,000, up by 65,000 compared to the previous 12 months, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Comparing this year's figures with those published for the year ending December 2022, the ONS said: "While it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend, these more recent estimates indicate a slowing of immigration coupled with increasing emigration."

It blames the increase in overall net migration on non-EU national, which has increased from 179,000 in June 2019 to 768,000 in June 2023.

The ONS explained: "This overall change across the time period is because of increased numbers of people arriving for work, to study and for humanitarian reasons."

Health and care workers and their dependents make up a large proportion of those coming to the UK, with 154,000 health and care visas granted. This is nearly double the previous year at 86,000.

The Conservative Party under David Cameron was elected in 2010 on a manifesto pledge to bring net migration down to below 100,000.

The figures represent a dramatic increase from pre-Brexit immigration levels, with net migration for the year ending June 2015 - the year before the UK voted to leave the EU - at 336,000.

The figures have sparked furious backlash from Tory MPs, who have repeatedly expressed concern over soaring migration levels.

The New Conservative Group of MPs admitted that the party is facing an "existential" threat at the next election, demanding the Government publish a plan to tackle migration today.

In a statement, the group - led by MPs Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger - said: "At the last election, every Conservative MP was elected on a solemn promise to reduce net migration, which in 2019 stood at 229,000 per year.

"Since then, in poll after poll, the public has made clear that they are prepared to support tough measures to clamp down on overall migration numbers: legal and illegal".

The group accused the Government of "largely ignoring" measures they have proposed, saying: "Many on our benches have warned that we were failing to make adequate progress on our promise".

Meanwhile, former Conservative minister Simon Clarke called for an "urgent change of approach".

He wrote on X: "This level of legal immigration is unsustainable both economically and socially.

"There is no public mandate for it, it is beyond our public services’ capacity to support and it undercuts UK productivity and wages by substituting cheaper foreign labour.

"We need an urgent change of approach. The earnings threshold for visa applications needs to be raised significantly.

"The shortage occupations list needs to be radically descoped. As set out by the Chancellor, we need to ensure more Britons are supported into work."

Former Health Minister Neil O'Brien said: "Here's net migration since 1947. In every election since 1992 we have promised to reduce migration.

"Today's extraordinary numbers mean the PM must now take immediate and massive action to do just that."

Meanwhile, MP Jonathan Gullis described the figures as being "completely unacceptable to the majority of the British people", demanding "drastic action now to bring legal migration down, as well as stopping the boats".

He told GB News: “The Prime Minister and Home Secretary should look at the ideas of the New Conservatives in order to get these numbers down quickly.

“Three things that can be done immediately are increasing the salary threshold for the main skilled work visa to a minimum of £38,000, extend the closure of the student dependant route to those enrolled on one year research Master’s degrees, and raise the minimum combined income threshold for sponsoring a spouse.”