Britain has not benefited economically from mass immigration and should reduce the number of legal arrivals to tens of thousands. Robert Jenrick warns today.
The ex-immigration secretary said this coincided with “the worst slowdown in productivity growth in Britain for more than two centuries” and “stagnation in GDP growth.”
In a report for the Center for Policy Studies (CPS), co-written with fellow ex-minister Neil O'Brien, he claims that 'the idea that more migration is the way out of economic stagnation appears increasingly difficult to defend' .
In addition to reducing legal immigration to 'tens of thousands', the report also recommends ending the immigration crisis Home office and creating a new Department of Border Security and Immigration Control.
In a speech today, Mr Jenrick stressed that some of the ideas could be introduced before the election later this year, a move he said would better showcase the party.
It is the latest attack on Mr Sunak from the Tory right, even as rebels have halted efforts to oust the prime minister. Mr Jenrick's former boss at weekends Suella Braverman also demanded that the Prime Minister shift politics to the right.
“It would be inexcusable if the government did not use the time before the general election to reverse the disastrous post-Brexit liberalizations, which ran counter to the British public's expressed desire to reduce immigration,” wrote Jenrick.
The ex-immigration secretary said this coincided with “the worst slowdown in productivity growth in Britain for more than two centuries” and “stagnation in GDP growth.”
It is the latest attack on Sunak from the Tory right, despite rebels abandoning efforts to oust the prime minister.
Mr Jenrick and his co-authors, former Tory minister Neil O'Brien and CPS research director Karl Williams, argue that large-scale migration has failed to deliver significant fiscal benefits while putting pressure on housing, public services and infrastructure.
“The changes we are proposing today would finally return the numbers to historic norms and deliver the highly selective, highly educated voters in the immigration system that voters were promised. This policy could be implemented immediately and mass migration of low-skilled people would be a thing of the past.
“Immigration is consistently one of voters' top concerns and they deserve a department whose sole mission is to control immigration and secure our borders. For far too long, the Ministry of the Interior has been unable to do this.'
The former Tory immigration minister made more than 30 recommendations to curb migration in the CPS report.
The proposals include limiting health and care visas to 30,000, scrapping the graduation route for international students and indexing salary thresholds for visa routes in line with inflation.
Last weekend, Jenrick's former boss Suella Braverman also demanded that the prime minister take the right course politically.
Mr Jenrick, who is seen as a potential candidate for the Tory leadership, has increased pressure on Rishi Sunak over immigration.
He and fellow MPs on the Conservative right have urged the Prime Minister to take action as revised official estimates published in November showed that the net migration rate – the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving Britain – in reached a record of 745,000 in 2022.
Mr Sunak has faced demands for a political change of direction as MPs from both Tory sides hope to turn around their electoral fortunes in the wake of a drubbing in local and regional elections.
Mr Jenrick and his co-authors, former Tory minister Neil O'Brien and CPS research director Karl Williams, argue that large-scale migration has failed to deliver significant fiscal benefits while putting pressure on housing, public services and infrastructure.
“Within the government, there is a perception in several departments (except the Ministry of Home Affairs) that immigration is an unconditional economic good, at least when it comes to achieving the objectives of that specific department,” they wrote.
'That's because they oversee sectors that reap the benefits of cheap migration, while outsourcing the costs elsewhere within the government. And they find it all too easy to pull the migration lever as a quick fix, rather than solving underlying problems like poor technical education.”
A government spokesperson said: 'The Prime Minister and Home Secretary have made it clear that current levels of migration are far too high.
'That's why the government has announced a plan to cut the number of migrants who would have come to Britain last year by 300,000 – the biggest reduction ever.
'This plan is working. The latest statistics show that applications for three major visa categories have fallen by 24 percent.”