Conservatives betray their promises on immigration

September 29, 2023

At their forthcoming party conference we can expect the focus to be almost entirely on asylum seekers so as to distract attention from the Conservatives blatant disregard of their election promises to reduce overall immigration.

A new Migration Watch UK paper lays bare the government’s betrayal of the electorate.

Access the paper here

In 2021 skill requirements were reduced generally from degree to roughly A-level. This was followed by the opening of avenues for tens of thousands of low-paid care workers to come to the UK despite years of advice by the official Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) that doing so would be folly.

• There has been a near six-fold increase in so-called ‘skilled work’ visa grants since 2019. This included grants for low-skilled jobs such as 40,000 care workers last year.
• The share of grants for work below graduate level in each quarter has increased five-fold since 2021. It now stands at 60 per cent.

The upshot has been the highest immigration in our history (over 600,000 in the last available year), yet no serious measures to reduce it.

Some Ministers are now even pushing to open new global immigration routes for roles at the same level as bin men, shelf stackers and factory workers.

Commenting, Alp Mehmet, Chairman of Migration Watch UK, said:

Suella Braverman has made a very brave speech in Washington but the Conservative record on immigration has been appalling. The government’s attempts to focus now on asylum will not fool the public. Allowing immigration to continue at anything like present levels will change the nature of the country within a generation. We need serious action now, there is no time to lose.