https://sputnikglobe.com/20230525/tories-accused-of-betrayal-as-immigration-to-uk-hits-600k-record-high-1110579920.html
Tories Accused of 'Betrayal' as Immigration to UK Hits 600K Record High
Tories Accused of 'Betrayal' as Immigration to UK Hits 600K Record High
Sputnik International
British PM Rishi Sunak has promised voters he will stop the trafficking of illegal immigrants across the English Channel. But he has dropped his predecessor Boris Johnson's pledge to keep net immigration below 250,000 per year.
2023-05-25T11:23+0000
2023-05-25T11:23+0000
2023-05-28T15:35+0000
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Net annual immigration to the UK has hit a record high of over 600,000 — despite government promises to bring it down.Much anticipated data from the Office for National Statistics published on Thursday showed that around 1.2 million people had moved to Britain over the past year, with 557,000 emigrating for a balance of 606,000.That broke the previous net influx record of 504,000 recorded just a year earlier.The data will be embarrassing for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who pledged earlier this year to stop illegal immigration. However, he refused to commit to his predecessor Boris Johnson's commitment to get net immigration under 250,000, saying only that he aimed to keep it below the half-million mark he "inherited".The immigrants included 925,000 from non-European Union countries, 151,000 from the EU — despite the end of free movement to and from the bloc with Brexit in 2021 — and 88,000 British nationals who had been living overseas.Those figures were driven by a boom in foreign students at British universities, recruitment of skilled workers from Africa and Asia to fill vacant jobs, the government's blanket offer of citizenship to Hong Kong Chinese and refugees from the conflict in Ukraine. But the country has also seen tens of thousands of illegal immigrants trafficked by sea from continental Europe over the past year. Television presenter Nigel Farage, founder of the Brexit Party — now the Reform Party — accused Sunak's government of betraying the electorate.Reform Party leader Richard Tice suggested that the Conservative government was more interested in trendy environmental policies than in controlling immigration."Tories have betrayed us and lied to us," Tice tweeted. "They deliberately allowed net immigration in 2022 to soar to 606,000. It will be same or even more in 2023 — Result: unaffordable housing and longer waiting lists.David Kurten, leader of the small social-conservative Heritage Party, went further and called for the UK to withdraw from international treaties on migration, return trafficked migrants to France and limit work and student visas.On a TV appearance on Thursday morning, the PM conceded that the immigration figures were "too high," stressing that they included 150,000 "dependents" of those in the UK on student visas.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230516/uk-cabinet-rejects-almost-all-proposals-by-home-secretary-to-curb-immigration---report-1110405231.html
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Tories Accused of 'Betrayal' as Immigration to UK Hits 600K Record High
11:23 GMT 25.05.2023 (Updated: 15:35 GMT 28.05.2023) British PM Rishi Sunak has promised voters he will stop the trafficking of tens of thousands of illegal immigrants across the English Channel. But he has dropped his predecessor Boris Johnson's pledge to keep net immigration below 250,000 per year.
Net annual immigration to the UK has hit a record high of over 600,000 — despite government promises to bring it down.
Much anticipated data from the Office for National Statistics published on Thursday showed that around 1.2 million people had moved to Britain over the past year, with 557,000 emigrating for a balance of 606,000.
That broke the previous net influx record of 504,000 recorded just a year earlier.
The data will be embarrassing for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who pledged earlier this year to stop illegal immigration. However, he refused to commit to his predecessor Boris Johnson's commitment to get net immigration under 250,000, saying only that he aimed to keep it below the half-million mark he "inherited". The immigrants included 925,000 from non-
European Union countries, 151,000 from the EU — despite the end of free movement to and from the bloc with Brexit in 2021 — and 88,000 British nationals who had been living overseas.
Those figures were driven by a boom in foreign students at British universities, recruitment of skilled workers from Africa and Asia to fill vacant jobs, the government's blanket offer of citizenship to Hong Kong Chinese and refugees from the conflict in Ukraine. But the country has also seen tens of thousands of illegal immigrants trafficked by sea from continental Europe over the past year.
Television presenter
Nigel Farage, founder of the Brexit Party — now the Reform Party — accused Sunak's government of betraying the electorate.
"These figures are a total breach of trust between voters and this government," Farage
tweeted. "The population explosion continues, our quality of life is declining and all the government will do is to give us more lies."
Reform Party leader Richard Tice suggested that the Conservative government was more interested in trendy environmental policies than in controlling immigration.
"Tories have betrayed us and lied to us," Tice
tweeted. "They deliberately allowed net immigration in 2022 to soar to 606,000. It will be same or even more in 2023 — Result: unaffordable housing and longer waiting lists.
David Kurten, leader of the small social-conservative Heritage Party, went further and called for the UK to withdraw from international treaties on migration, return trafficked migrants to France and limit work and student visas.
On a TV appearance on Thursday morning, the PM conceded that the immigration figures were "too high," stressing that they included 150,000 "dependents" of those in the UK on student visas.
"Numbers are too high, it’s as simple as that," Sunak said. "And I want to bring them down."
