Theresa May accused of letting down Leave voters by sacrificing immigration controls for the next three years
Migration Watch slammed the Prime Minister for compromising on the Brexit transition deal
THERESA MAY was today accused of betraying millions of Leave voters by “surrendering” any attempt to tackle EU immigration in talks with Brussels.
In an unprecedented attack, Migration Watch slammed the PM for a “cop out” on border controls and warned it would come back to haunt her.
It said that if ministers fail to restrict EU migration in the final Brexit deal “the electorate will not readily forgive them”.
Alp Mehmet, the think tank’s vice-chair, said the PM’s transition deal with Brussels meant Britain had signed up to almost three more years of unlimited EU immigration.
He accused the Government of caving into business chiefs who “profit handsomely” favour from free movement - and forgetting the views of ordinary voters on the doorsteps.
Writing for The Sun, he stormed: “Immigration was not just an important reason for the Brexit vote; it was, according to the polls, THE single most important issue of voter concern on the eve of referendum day in June 2016.
“While the voice of voters may have been heard in the referendum result, it is also all too clear that it has since been largely ignored.”
Migration Watch has been hugely supportive of Theresa May since the EU referendum. But its attack reflects growing fears among Brexit supporters that the Government has gone soft on its promise to respond to the nation’s alarm about unrestricted EU immigration.
It came just hours after Tory Eurosceptic Jacob Rees-Mogg said Britain will suffer its biggest “national humiliation” since Suez unless it delivers a clean Brexit.
The senior backbencher said that if the country were “not to leave” it would cause the “most almighty smash to the national psyche that could be imagined”.
The transition deal signed last week will allow unlimited EU immigration until the end of 2020.
Ministers caved in to the EU’s demands and said any EU citizen who arrives during the transition will be allowed full residency rights. A separate agreement on the same day lifted restrictions on Croatian nationals, meaning they too will be able to do likewise.
Official figures in February revealed a net 90,000 EU citizens came to Britain last year – the first time in 5 years the number has fallen below 100,000.
But the total number of EU migrants living in the UK has more than doubled to 3.2million since border controls were relaxed for a string of Eastern European nations by Tony Blair in 2004.
The Sun urged ex-PM David Cameron to “draw a red line” on immigration in 2013 - warning there was “every chance the country will vote to get out” in a EU Referendum.
Theresa May’s official spokesman last July vowed that free movement would end in March 2019.
It came after Home Secretary Amber Rudd – a fierce Remain campaigner – hinted at a relatively liberal post-Brexit migration scheme.
Earlier this month, Ms Rudd claimed that recent falls in EU migration had “taken away the urgency” to bring forward new proposals for post-Brexit immigration rules.
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An Immigration Bill originally expected earlier this year may not be published after until Brexit in one year’s time.
Former Cabinet Minister Priti Patel has demanded the Home Secretary “level with the nation” and set out what the post-Brexit border plan will be.
She told The Sun earlier this month: “It’s in the public interest to have all everything in place so we know what immigration policy is going to look like on March 29 2019 and that means bringing legislation forward to have a very clear idea.”
Control of our borders? More of a complete cop out, says Migration Watch
ALP MEHMET, vice-chair of Migration Watch, says Theresa May has let down voters with her Brexit transition deal.
The transition agreement with the EU, formally approved on Friday, is useless for controlling immigration.
Free movement for citizens of the EU is to continue for nearly three years from now. Worse, all those who arrive in that period will acquire the right to permanent residence.
Over the last ten years or so, on average, about half a million EU citizens every year have applied for a National Insurance number at one of our job centres. From June, Croatians will also be able to do the same and stay indefinitely if they so choose.
Nobody knows how many of those coming to work will be tempted to stay, many to be joined by family members, when they know that the gates are about to close.
Those who voted to leave the EU because they felt strongly about our loss of control of EU migration rightly believed their voice had finally been heard. The Government thus far have let them down badly; they are right to feel aggrieved.
Immigration was not just an important reason for the Brexit vote; it was, according to the polls, the single most important issue of voter concern on the eve of referendum day in June 2016.
While the voice of voters may have been heard in the referendum result, it is also all too clear that it has since been largely ignored. The Government might have been influenced by more recent opinion polls which show that immigration has fallen slightly down the public’s list of concerns.
If that is true it is because they expect Brexit to deliver on their expectations. It is looking increasingly likely that they will be sorely disappointed.
Last Tuesday’s agreement on the transition arrangements are a complete cop out on immigration.
Ultimately, employers who are either not themselves affected by mass immigration or who profit handsomely from it want as little change as possible to current arrangements. They have been supported by those who have always favoured loose immigration controls, and they have won hands down.
The Government, it seems, were ready to sacrifice immigration control to achieve an interim agreement.
If this should be the eventual result, the electorate will not readily forgive them.