Michael Gove said on Tuesday that high levels of migration to Britain were putting a strain on housing and public services and that a “limit” should be put on the numbers.
The government’s goal of building 300,000 homes a year — which it is not achieving — was based on the assumption of a net migration of 170,000 per yearbut the real figure is at least three times higher than that.
“Britain has always been a country that has benefited from the arrival of talented people and people fleeing persecution,” the upgrade secretary told a National Conservatism UK conference in London. “But the numbers have recently reached a level where there is inevitable pressure on housing and public services.”
The issue of high net migration has caused tension in the cabinet with Suella Braverman, home secretary, telling the same conference this week that the overall numbers must come down.
Latest official data shows net migration topped 500,000 in the year to June 2022. But some analysts said new figures released next week for calendar year 2022 could top 700,000which would more than double the pre-Brexit record.
At the same time, the government continues to fall well short of its own housing targets with 216,490 new homes built in 2020-21.
Gove said the UK must create safe routes for people fleeing persecution and welcome foreign workers with certain skills to fill key jobs, but said “beyond that there is a limit “.
Braverman is expected to announce a plan shortly to prevent postgraduate students on year-long masters courses from bringing family members with them to Britain. Other senior cabinet ministers – Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan – oppose the move, given the importance international students in economics.
Gove said he totally ‘disagrees’ with those who believe that after 13 years in office ‘now is the time to do without the Tories’. The party has always adapted “to changing circumstances”, he added.
Many Tory MPs believe that if the government can show progress on issues such as reducing migration, it would boost the party’s standing in the polls. The latest data from Savanta gave Labor a 17 point lead over the Tories.
Downing Street stressed on Tuesday that the government “remains committed to reducing net migration”, adding that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would raise the “challenge” of illegal migration with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen when she is in attendance. Iceland at the top of the Council of Europe, the continent’s main human rights body.
Speaking at Tuesday’s conference, Sir John Hayes, an ally of the Home Secretary, warned that a “widening chasm” was emerging “between the British people and the elite who claim to serve them”.
He called for the creation of an immigration system “guided not by the demands of amoral big business but in accordance with the will of the people”.
Another senior Tory official denied suggestions that the focus on migration by Braverman and other right-wing lawmakers in the party was an attempt to undermine Sunak after the disastrous local election results.
“There is no mood for another leader,” he said. “But the reality is that with so many migrants it has an impact on housing and education – we promised to act on migration in the manifesto and now we must act on it.”
Meanwhile, Sunak has come under renewed pressure over his government’s fiscal policy after an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank published on Tuesday warned that by 2027-2028, one in seven adults will pay 40% tax.
“It is essential that we go to the next election showing that we have reduced taxes significantly for workers, teachers, doctors, etc.,” said a former minister.
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