Tory backlash as net migration hits record levels

After much Whitehall spin, the official figures are now in. Net migration in 2022 is estimated to have hit 745,000, a huge revision upward from an earlier estimate of 606,000. That figure only fell slightly by 10 per cent to 672,000 for 2023, as a total of 1.2 million people arrived to live in the UK in the 12 months up until June. Today’s net migration figure is more than three times the level when the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledged to ensure ‘overall numbers come down.’

The reaction of Conservative MPs to these figures has not been a happy one. The New Conservatives group of 25 right-wingers has released a collective statement, noting that the high levels of migration are ‘a consistent trend’ caused ‘directly by the policy decisions of this government.’ They warn that ‘this really is “do or die” for our party’ and urge ministers to today publish an emergency set of measures to meet the pledge by the time of next year’s election.