Lee Anderson pulls out of Tory pressure group immigration event

2023-07-03

Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson pulls out of launch of New Conservatives pressure group report on immigration with ‘sick bug’ after it demands Rishi Sunak cut legal arrivals by two-thirds ahead of the next election

Net immigration ‘skyrocketed’ to a record 606,000 last year, new report shows

Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson has pulled out of the launch of a Tory pressure group report demanding Rishi Sunak get tougher on immigration.

The Ashfield MP was listed to speak at the launch of The New Conservatives’ 12-point plan to reduce legal arrivals by two-thirds by the time of the next election.

The launch of the report in Westminster today is seen as heaping huge pressure on the Prime Minister, who is also under fire over illegal migration and the Rwanda deportation scheme.

The expected presence of Mr Anderson raised some eyebrows given his senior official position in the party, though he is not a member of the government.

However The New Conservatives’ deputy chairman Danny Kruger told the launch event that Mr Anderson had ‘a terrible sick bug’ and would not be attending. His name was also missing from a list of MPs who support its recommendations.

Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, who wrote the report, had earlier said it was ‘healthy’ to discuss immigration levels and denied it would put pressure on the PM.

He told Sky News: ‘We support the Prime Minister who shares many of our aims and objectives.

‘We look forward to working with him to reduce immigration to a more manageable level.’

The expected presence of Mr Anderson raised some eyebrows given his senior official position in the party, though he is not a member of the government.

The New Conservatives lobby group will tell Rishi Sunak (pictured at Lords yesterday) the party must ‘honour the promise’ made in the 2019 manifesto to cut net immigration to below the level at the time

The 25-strong group, which includes the party’s deputy chairman Lee Anderson and 24 other Red Wall MPs including Miriam Cates, wants net migration cut by two-thirds from 606,000 in 2022 to around the 226,000 level it was when they were first elected in 2019.

Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, who wrote the report, said it was ‘healthy’ to discuss immigration levels. He told Sky News: ‘We support the Prime Minister who shares many of our aims and objectives’

In n the report’s plan is the ‘rapid introduction’ of measures in the Illegal Migration Bill, which could cut numbers by a further 35,000 by tackling the small boats crisis (File image)

Who are the New Conservatives?

Among the members of the New Conservatives are:

Lee Anderson – Ashfield MP and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.
Jonathan Gullis – Stoke-on-Trent North MP and former schools standards minister .
Sarah Atherton – Wrexham MP and former parliamentary private secretary (PPS) in the MoD.
Danny Kruger – Devizes MP, son of Bake Off host Prue Leith and former PPS to Boris Johnson.
Miriam Cates – Penistone and Stocksbridge MP and campaigner on trans issues.
Tom Hunt – Ipswich MP and the report’s author.
Andrew Lewer – Northampton South MP.
Nick Fletcher – Don Valley MP.
Alex Stafford – Rother Valley MP and vice-chairman of the Conservtive Party, and former PPS to Boris Johnson.

The report states: ‘Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is rightly taking measures to cut net migration. His proposal to prevent foreign students from bringing dependents with them is a welcome step in the right direction.

‘Likewise, the Illegal Migration Bill promises to tackle the growing number of migrants who enter the UK via dangerous and dishonest means. But more must be done.’

The grouping of 25 Red Wall MPs elected since 2017 wants net migration cut by two-thirds from 606,000 in 2022 to around the 226,000 level pledged in the 2019 Tory manifesto.

Among the ideas in the report are the removal of visas for tens of thousands of care workers, and raising the skilled work visa salary threshold – designed to reduce the amount of low-paid, unskilled labour – to £38,000.

They also recommend ending the right of graduate students to stay in the UK for up to two years after the end of their course without a job offer, and to allow fewer foreign postgrads into Britain by’excluding the poorest performing universities from eligibility criteria’.

They also say Britain should cap the number of refugees it accepts at 20,000, and cap those allowed in under future humanitarian relief schemes.

There would also be a cap on the amount of social housing that can be allocated to non UK nationals ‘until the number of British families waiting for housing clears’.

The senior Tories warn that without swift action ‘the Conservative Party will further erode the trust of hundreds of thousands of voters who lent the party their vote in 2019’.

The report says: ‘The British public voted for a strong approach to migration. They did not vote for mass migration and the social and economic harms it brings.

‘Reliance on cheap international labour drives down wages for British workers and disincentivises businesses from investing in skills training or new technology. Mass migration also contributes to the housing crisis: Over half a million more houses a year are estimated to be needed to keep up with migration trends.’

Downing Street said the Government is not planning to remove care workers from the shortage occupation list.

‘That’s not an approach we’re considering currently. Again, we know there is significant demand in the care sector for staff,’ the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

‘We are boosting domestic staff as I’ve said and backing that with hundreds of millions of pounds in support… there’s lots we’re doing but right now we think we’re striking the right balance.’

Downing Street did not rule out capping the number of refugees entering the country at 20,000 but said it was for Parliament to ‘make a judgment’ rather than the Government to fix a figure ‘unilaterally.’

The spokesman refused to say whether Rishi Sunak was frustrated by Mr Anderson supporting the change despite holding a party office.

The report will be seen as warning shot at Mr Sunak, who has said only that he will bring down numbers to the level he ‘inherited’, which is around 500,000, roughly double the amount at the last election. The report says that the points-based system introduced after Brexit has been ‘too lenient’ and now risks generating ‘destabilising economic and cultural consequences’.

It points out that a ‘temporary’ relaxation of the rules for foreign care workers, introduced during Covid, remains ‘despite the abatement of the pandemic’. Closing this loophole could reduce numbers by more than 80,000, it says.

The report also calls for the minimum salary threshold for skilled worker visas to be raised to £38,000, potentially cutting numbers by 54,000 a year.

A further tightening of the rules for foreign students, including ending the right of graduates to work in the UK for two years after finishing their courses, could reduce numbers by 174,000 a year, the report says.

It comes after Mr Sunak tightened student rules this year, including a ban on foreign students on one-year masters courses bringing in their dependants. Also in the report’s plan is the ‘rapid introduction’ of measures in the Illegal Migration Bill, which could cut numbers by a further 35,000 by tackling the small boats crisis.

Refugee numbers should be slashed and capped at 20,000 a year, it says, while hiking the immigration health surcharge from £624 a year to £2,700 would act as a disincentive for potential migrants.

The report reflects wider concerns in the Tory Party about soaring immigration levels, with one minister telling the Mail the Government has ‘taken [its] eye off the ball’ after the pandemic.

New Conservatives’ 12-point immigration plan

Close temporary schemes that grant eligibility for worker visas to ‘care workers’ and ‘senior care workers’ to cut numbers by 82,000.
Raise the main skilled work visa salary threshold to £38,000 a year to cut numbers by 54,000.
Expand ban on students bringing family to UK from postgraduates to masters students to cut numbers by 75,000.
Remove right for graduate students to stay in the UK for two years after their course ends, to cut numbers by 50,000
Reserve university Study Visas for the brightest international students and exclude the worst universities from eligibility, to cut numbers by 49,000.
Introduce cap on future humanitarian schemes should the predicted 168,000 reductions not be realised.
Rapidly pass and implement the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill to cut numbers by 35,000.
Cap the number of refugees legally accepted for resettlement in the UK at 20,000.
Raise the minimum combined income threshold to £26,200 for sponsoring a spouse and raise the minimum language requirement to B1 (intermediate level), to cut numbers by 20,000.
Make the Migration Advisory Committee report on the effect of migration on housing and public services, not just the jobs market.
Cap the amount of social housing that Councils can give to non-UK nationals at five per cent until the number of British families waiting for housing clears.
Raise the Immigration Health Surcharge to £2,700 per person, per year.

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