UK Edition
Migrant salary limits must be raised to persuade Britons back to work, Tory MPs have told Rishi Sunak, after he admitted record levels of net migration were “too high”.
The Prime Minister faced a backlash from within his own party after it was confirmed that net migration hit a record high of 606,000 in the year ending December 2022.
Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, admitted he had “a lot of sympathy” with Tory MPs calling for the salary threshold for migrants to be raised to stop employers undercutting British workers. He said the Government would consider “further measures in the future”.
Red Wall MPs led demands to raise the £26,200 a year threshold for skilled workers, pointing out that it is 20 per cent lower than the current UK median salary of £33,000.
Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, has argued within the Government for migrant salary thresholds to be raised, but she has been blocked by the Treasury and No 10.
Similar calls for limits on visas allowing graduates to stay in Britain for two more years have also been snubbed.
It came as 50 migrants on a dinghy were brought to Dover by a Border Force vessel on Thursday morning after refusing to be picked up by the French navy, the Daily Mail reported.
On Thursday, Mr Sunak denied immigration was “out of control” but said: “Numbers are too high, it’s as simple as that. And I want to bring them down.”
He said measures put in place this week to prevent overseas students bringing dependants with them were “significant” and would “bring levels down over time”.
Hinting at further measures, he said: “There’s a few other things we’re doing as well.”
The record numbers provoked a backlash from Tory backbenchers, who urged the Prime Minister to introduce measures to curb soaring migration.
Sir Edward Leigh, the former minister, said: “Some people in the Treasury seem to think a good way to grow the economy is to fill the country up with more and more people, but this is bad for productivity and bad for British workers who are being undercut by mass migration from all over the world.”
Miriam Cates, a member of the House of Commons education committee, said: “We should increase the salary threshold for workers coming into the UK so that everyone who comes here on a work visa makes a net contribution to the economy, and this should include dependants.
“As long as employers have the option of bringing in cheap labour from abroad, there is no incentive for them to recruit and train British people.
“At the same time, we should look closely at how we can reduce the barriers to employment for the 3.5 million British people currently on out of work benefits.”
Marco Longhi, another Tory MP, said: “The salary threshold should definitely go up, otherwise it defeats the whole point of controlling immigration through a points system, by having too low a bar for entry.
“We have well over 700,000 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, training or employment [and] more over 24-year-olds.
“We absolutely must move away from a generous welfare system that doesn’t incentivise them to work - but then business too needs to invest in higher salaries and training.”
Ben Bradley, Tory MP for Mansfield, said: “We could reduce work visas - either raise thresholds or limit the number of sectors - or, like Australia, effectively say to businesses that if you want to bring a foreign worker in, you need to sponsor them and prove that you've tried to recruit domestically first. I’m keen to explore all of the above.”
In the year to March, some 488,000 visas were issued to foreign workers and their families, nearly double the year before.
Approximately 300,000 people were granted visas for seasonal work, skilled jobs, roles in the NHS and inter-company employees.
Skilled jobs have been expanded to include chefs, bricklayers, electricians, welders, health and care workers.
In the wake of the figures, Migration Watch UK, which lobbies for tougher border controls, launched a petition in a new “Campaign to Cut Immigration”.
Alp Mehmet, its chairman, said: “The Prime Minister has abandoned any effort to cut immigration from these stratospheric levels. So, we will now campaign for the public to sign a petition calling for net migration to be cut to less than 100,000 a year.”
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said: “These extraordinary figures, including doubling the number of work visas since the pandemic, show the Conservatives have no plan and no grip on immigration.
“Ministers have completely failed to tackle skills shortages, especially in health and social care, or to get people back into work after Covid.”