Britain’s New Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, is reportedly urging the country’s Prime Minister to finally cut down on record immigration into the UK.
The UK government should finally start acting on its promises to cut down immigration, Britain’s new Brexiteer Home Secretary, Suella Braverman — who is responsible for controlling borders, so shouldn’t really be having to beg anybody — is reportedly now urging.
Despite the public voting to leave the EU back in 2016 partly — it is often claimed — for the purposes of allowing the country to regain control of its own borders, the total number of migrants entering the country has actually gone up, with the so-called ‘Conservative’ Party under Boris Johnson going so far as to let in record numbers of legal arrivals during his time as premier.
Now, according to a report by The Telegraph, Prime Minister Liz Truss is looking at further loosening the criteria for migrants entering Britain seemingly in the hopes of boosting national growth, with the new Tory party leader even reportedly considering removing measures requiring certain new arrivals to speak English.
Suella Braverman is however said to be resisting any suggestion that the UK should in any way boost its annual migrant intake, instead arguing that a push for economic growth could be made compatible with the Conservative Party’s promises to lower immigration.
“The Home Secretary does not believe that reducing net migration needs to mean we go to lower growth. You can achieve both,” a Whitehall source reportedly told The Telegraph.
“You can solve the economic bottlenecks that need to have higher skills but at the same time bring down aggregate migration,” the source went on to say.
Braverman’s call for migration to finally be curbed stands in contrast to the desires of the UK’s newly appointed Prime Minister, Liz Truss, who is reportedly considering a further loosening of immigration rules in the hopes of filling gaps in the economy.
Insiders have reportedly claimed that such changes will not be used to boost immigration overall, but just change the make-up of those entering the country so as to better fit the UK’s needs.
“That will involve increasing numbers in some areas and decreasing in others,” the Downing Street source reportedly told The Telegraph while emphasising that they also wanted to get those already in the country who are currently not working back into jobs.
Another Truss underling, Work and Pensions Secretary Chloe Smith, reportedly said on Monday that it was “perfectly possible” that more migrants could be brought in to fill holes in the economy, with seemingly no mention of whether this will be balanced with measures elsewhere.
The so-called “Conservative” Party’s dismal track record on immigration in the near past leaves much reason for concern, with previous Prime Minister Boris Johnson letting in a record number of migrants into the country in 2021.
This is despite the fact that Johnson himself was one of the leading figures behind the 2016 Brexit referendum, a vote where the idea of border control was a key issue.
As of April 2022, it was predicted that the UK would break 2021’s record of 1.1 million visas being issued again this year, though things could — at least in theory — change under the new Truss government.