Rishi Sunak pledges to slash Channel crossings and net migration

‘I’ll control our borders’: Rishi Sunak pledges to slash Channel crossings and bring net migration down

• New PM Rishi Sunak wants to cut migrant numbers to what ‘works best for UK’
• PM wants to meet 2019 Tory manifesto commitments to reduce net migration 
• Spokesman ‘not aware’ of specific target but said PM committed to reduction
• Mr Sunak pledged to do ‘whatever it takes’ to ensure Rwanda plan goes ahead

Rishi Sunak yesterday vowed to cut the number of migrants coming to Britain with a system that ‘works best for the UK’.

Promising to stand by pledges made in the 2019 Conservative manifesto, Downing Street said the Prime Minister was ‘committed to ensuring we have control over our borders’.

Mr Sunak will bring net migration down while ensuring that Britain has the necessary ‘skills and talents’, No 10 said.

New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured centre at his first Cabinet meeting) yesterday vowed to cut the number of migrants coming to Britain with a system that ‘works best for the UK’

Home Secretary Suella Braverman (pictured leaving 10 Downing Street yesterday) gave an update ‘on ongoing work to tackle illegal immigration’ during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting

The new PM’s official spokesman told reporters: ‘Meeting our manifesto commitments remains important – the PM has been clear on that – and that relates to net migration as well where we’ve said that it should come down.

‘He’s committed to ensuring we have control over our borders and the public rightly expects us to control immigration and have a system that works.’

The spokesman said he was ‘not aware’ of a specific target, but that Mr Sunak was committed to seeing migration fall.

He added: ‘We will be guided by the principle that we need the skills and talents both to support our economy whilst also encouraging businesses to invest in people.’

The 2019 Tory manifesto pledged there would be fewer lower-skilled migrants and overall numbers would come down.

It said: ‘Only by establishing immigration controls and ending freedom of movement will we be able to attract the high-skilled workers we need.’

During the summer leadership race, Mr Sunak announced a ten-point immigration plan to ‘take back control of our borders’.

He pledged to do ‘whatever it takes to get our partnership with Rwanda off the ground’, and said no adult who enters the UK illegally ‘will have a route to remain’.

In the summer Tory leadership race, Rishi Sunak pledged to do ‘whatever it takes to get our partnership with Rwanda off the ground’. Pictured: Police officers near a Boeing 767 at MoD Boscombe Down, near Salisbury, on June 14 which was set to take asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda before the flight was cancelled

Rishi Sunak has pledged to reduce the number of migrant channel crossings. Pictured: Migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, onboard a Border Force vessel following a small boat incident in the Channel on October 9

Mr Sunak also wanted to tighten the definition of who qualifies for UK asylum, create an annual cap on the number of refugees accepted and increase cooperation with France to stop small boats.

No 10 was unable to confirm yesterday whether these commitments still stood now he has entered office. Home Secretary Suella Braverman gave an update ‘on ongoing work to tackle illegal immigration’ during yesterday’s Cabinet meeting.

Mr Sunak said it was ‘a complex and challenging issue but that the public rightly expected the Government to find a long-lasting solution’.

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