Rishi Sunak has vowed to halve net migration to the UK while unveiling the Conservative Party's manifesto - but the target will still be higher than in 2019 when the party admitted migration was too high.
Speaking at Silverstone, the Prime Minister said: “Labour have no answer to this question. We saw the other week Keir Starmer simply can’t tell you what he would do with people who come here illegally because he doesn’t believe it’s a problem.
“Now, with Brexit we took control of our borders, but migration has been too high in recent years and we have a clear plan to reduce it.
“Last year we announced changes which means 300,000 people who were previously eligible to come here now can’t and we will introduce a migration cap that means parliament, your elected representatives, will vote on how many people should be able to come here every year.
Rishi Sunak has vowed to halve net migration to the UK while unveiling the Conservative Party's manifesto - but the target will still be higher than in 2019 when the party admitted migration was too high
GB NEWS
“Our plan is this: we will halve migration as we have halved inflation, and then reduce it every single year.”
But Sunak's pledge to cut net migration by half takes the annual figure to around 340,000 people. This is higher than in 2019, when it was around 184,000, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
He also promised to cut illegal migration through the Rwanda scheme, saying: "We need border security too.
"The confidence that it is your government that decides who comes to the country, and not criminal gangs. And that is why if you vote Conservative on July 4, the flights removing illegal migrants will depart in July. "Establishing the deterrent that will stop the boats."
Launching the Conservative Party manifesto at Silverstone, Northamptonshire, home of the British Grand Prix, Sunak said there is “nowhere better in fact to mark the fact that our economy has truly turned a corner”.
The Prime Minister said: “Formula 1 is a great example of all our strengths coming together – our technological know-how, our innovative advanced manufacturing capability and the skill of our workforce – 25,000 engineers and apprentices are involved in this industry.
“F1 isn’t the only thing they do here at Silverstone. As nice as it would be for Brad Pitt to turn up at our manifesto launch, he’s currently filming just outside with a brilliant British crew, one of the many UK-based productions taking place thanks to our support and tax cuts to the creative sector.”
He added: “The fact that we can lead the world in such competitive fields should make us all enormously proud of our country, but crucially optimistic about our future because we Brits can outcompete the best in the world.”
The Tory manifesto launch saw the PM also pledge to “scrap entirely the main rate of self-employed national insurance” in the next parliament to encourage enterprise.
He also pledged to halve national insurance overall by 2027.
Sunak said: “We will enable working people to keep more money that you earn because you have earned it and have the right to choose what you spend it on.
“Now, Keir Starmer takes a very different view. He says he’s a socialist and we all know what socialists do, don’t we? They take more of your money because they think it belongs to them.
“Now, we are cutting taxes for workers, for parents and pensioners, and we are the party of Margaret Thatcher and Nigel Lawson, a party, unlike Labour, that believes in sound money.”
The Conservatives will aim to deliver 1.6 million new homes if elected by speeding up planning on brownfield land in inner cities and “scrapping defective EU laws”, Sunak also pledged.
But reacting to the manifesto, Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, said: “This Conservative manifesto is a recipe for five more years of Tory chaos.
“After 14 years in power, the Prime Minister’s desperate manifesto published today is stuffed full of unfunded spending commitments. The Prime Minister that was brought in to be the antidote to the chaos of Liz Truss has instead become the next instalment of the same thing.
“Tory desperation leads to costs for the British people. The public is still paying the price of the Conservatives crashing the economy. Now they promise a repeat if they win again, leading to higher mortgages and a weaker economy.
“After today the choice at this election could not be clearer: five more years of chaos with the Conservatives or stability and growth with Labour.”