MORE will be done to wrestle down soaring migration, Rishi Sunak pledged today as he came under fresh pressure to act.
The PM finally admitted that “we need to do more” to curb the numbers arriving after days dancing around the crucial issue.
He was forced onto the ropes following figures showing a record 745,000 people came to Britain last year despite repeated Tory pledges to cut net migration.
Speaking at the Global Investment Summit this morning, Mr Sunak conceded ministers had not done enough to honour their promises.
He said: “I’m very clear that the levels of net migration are too high. They need to come down to more sustainable levels.
“It is encouraging that the Office for National Statistics last week said the numbers are slowing but we need to do more.”
Tory MPs are demanding migrants earn at least £40,000 to be given a visa as a way of limiting the numbers to the most skilled.
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Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman Mr Sunak agreed to this as a condition of her support in last year’s leadership contest but reneged on the deal.
Her allies also claim she fired off six letters to the PM while in Cabinet with ideas to curb the numbers that went ignored.
Meanwhile her under-fire successor James Cleverly faces the music today after playing down the Rwanda plan to tackle illegal migration.
The new Home Secretary urged people not to “fixate” on the flagship removal scheme as it was not the “be all and end all” of the blueprint to end the Channel crisis.
Tory MPs are expected to put the boot in during a Commons grilling this afternoon.
Mr Sunak’s spokesman said; “We have made significant substantive progress in stopping the boats, with crossings down a third year-on-year.
“So it is a crucial part of our approach to stopping the boats, but as we’ve always been clear, there is no one silver bullet.
nd that’s why we – alongside the continued work to secure the Rwanda migration partnership – we are taking action, whether that’s on bilateral returns agreements, further co-operation with our French counterparts, and that is having an impact.
“But clearly the partnership is a crucial and important part of our overall policy.”
