- Saturday, April 20, 2024
The criticiam surfaced after the UK’s net migration was found to have touched a record high of 606,000 with around 1.2 million people reaching the country in 2022 to live.
By: Shubham Ghosh
British home secretary Suella Braverman has faced flak after net migration has touched a record high of 606,000 with around 1.2 million people reaching the British shores to live in 2022.
According to a report by the Independent, figures revealed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday (25) triggered criticism that the Conservative government has “lost control” of migration just a few years after it was aiming to take net figures below 100,000.
Braverman did not make any remark on the figures or address an urgent query on immigration in the House of Commons despite the issue of migration being one of her key policy areas, the report added.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper criticised Braverman in strong terms and even asked “what is the point” of the home secretary.
Speaking in the Commons, Cooper asked, “Where is the Home Secretary who is in charge of these policies?” She then said that the Conservative leader has “gone to ground”.
“There are reports she is not even going to do media, she has not come to this house, she is in internal meetings presumably more private courses arranged by the civil service,” the shadow home secretary added.
Addressing the questions, minister of state for immigration Robert Jenrick said net migration to the UK is “far too high” and that the government remained committed to reducing the overall net migration to sustainable levels.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak also agreed that the immigration figure was “too high”, the Independent report added.
He said they needed to be sensitive to the needs of the National Health Service, the economy, but fundamentally the numbers were too high. He said that he will bring them down but did not say to what level he would bring the net immigration figure down to. He said that it depended on the economy.
Cooper also accused the Conservatives of having neither a plan nor a grip on immigration. The Labour leader alleged that ministers have failed completely in tackling skills shortages, particularly in health and social care, or to get people back to work after Covid pandemic.
While Braverman on Monday (22) announced a controversial crackdown on visas for international students, which she said would slash net migration, official figures show several factors have contributed to the total migration, including wider economic migration driven by shortages in sectors that were dominated by European Union workers before Brexit.
