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Amber Rudd
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, declined to state a specific target for cutting net migration to the UK. Photograph: Reuters
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, declined to state a specific target for cutting net migration to the UK. Photograph: Reuters

Amber Rudd aims to reduce UK immigration to 'sustainable levels'

This article is more than 7 years old

Home secretary casts doubts on future of government’s target to cut net migration to tens of thousands during this parliament

A question mark has been placed over the future of the government’s target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands before the next election after the new home secretary said her goal was to bring it down only to “sustainable levels”.

The latest figures published during the EU referendum campaign showed net migration to Britain hitting near-record levels of 333,000 in 2015 and Amber Rudd’s latest refusal to endorse the specific target provides a hint that it may soon be dropped by the new cabinet.

Theresa May sparked speculation during the EU campaign that she wanted to distance herself from David Cameron’s target when she failed to mention it in her only campaign speech and questioned in a television interview whether it was possible to set a particular time period for the target.

Speaking after attending the first cabinet meeting chaired by May, the home secretary declined to endorse the specific target in a BBC interview despite being asked twice if it still existed. The first time Rudd was asked if she could give a commitment to get mass migration down to the tens of thousands in the future, she replied: “Well, what the prime minister has said is that we must bring migration down to sustainable levels. So that is what is going to be my aim at the moment.”

Pressed as to whether the target still existed, she said: “I am going to stick to my comment which is about bringing it down to sustainable levels. That has to be the most important thing for the country.”

When the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, was later asked whether Rudd’s comments indicated the target was about to be dropped, he said his colleague was “entirely right to be careful about committing to numbers” because the government “does not want to be in a position where we are disappointing people again”.

Downing Street also downplayed speculation that the target is about to be ditched, saying: “The prime minister does see sustainable levels as down to the tens of thousands. The prime minister’s spokeswoman added: “Sustainable levels is an approach and a language that has been used repeatedly by the Home Office in the past. The prime minister has used it herself. There isn’t a change,.

“The emphasis on ‘sustainable’ reflects the fact that this is about looking at what is the right level for our country, what communities across the country can cope with, pressure on public services, looking at all these issues.” Rudd’s vague language prompted Labour to call for a Commons statement to clarify the future of the target while the Liberal Democrats claimed she had given a clear indication it was about to be ditched.

In an interview with ITV’s Robert Peston during the referendum campaign, May used a similar formula to Rudd, saying: “I still believe that we should have that goal of bringing immigration down to sustainable levels.” However, May added: “What I have also discovered over the last six years is that this is somewhere where you’re constantly having to work at it, so you can’t just set a time period.”

She warned that a pre-Brexit surge might further jeopardise such a precise target: “We know, for example, if we’re looking ahead over the coming months and years once we get the issue of the EU negotiation sorted, the right deal for Britain, we may very well see in the run-up to that, people wanting to come here to the UK before that exit happens, so there are factors you can’t always predict what the timing and numbers of those will be.”

Against this, May has previously argued to continue the net migration target and has strongly resisted attempts by cabinet colleagues to dilute it by removing overseas students from the definition.

The Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, Alistair Carmichael, said: “Amber Rudd has done the right thing by seriously hinting that Theresa May’s ridiculous and failed net immigration targets will be ditched. “It is to be hoped that she will now change other aspects of government policy.

“An early indication of a willingness to allow EU nationals to remain in the UK post-Brexit would show that she is in control of her department and not being remotely controlled by Downing Street.”

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