Tory right attacks Rishi Sunak’s ‘weakness’ over visa U-turn

PM insists harsh new threshold will happen in early 2025 – by hardliners says he should have ‘stuck to his guns’

Right-wing Tory MPs have attacked Rishi Sunak over the government’s partial U-turn on new visa rules aimed at slashing levels of legal immigration.

The prime minister was accused of a “regrettable sign of weakness” amid a furious backlash over the rowing back on harsh new earning thresholds for dependents.

Tory ministers have watered down plans to hike the earning threshold Britons need to bring foreign family members to live in the UK to £38,700.

Instead, the government has confirmed plans to increase the threshold to only £29,000 in the spring – with a pledge to make a further increase later.

Mr Sunak revealed on Friday that the salary threshold for family visas will go up to £38,700 in “early 2025” – saying it will be done “in two stages”.

Ex-immigration minister Robert Jenrick – who quit in fury at Mr Sunak’s “weak” Rwanda deportation bill – led the angry reaction from rebellious hardliners to the delay.

A spokesperson for Mr Jenrick said the package of visa changes promised earlier this month “needs to be implemented now, not long-grassed to the spring or watered down. More measures are needed, not less”.

David Jones MP, deputy chair of the Tory Brexiteers’ European Research Group (ERG), said the government “should have stuck to its guns”.

The right-winger said the move was “a regrettable sign of weakness – made worse by the fact that parliament was not sitting and therefore was unable to interrogate ministers”.

James Cleverly announced a package of visa changes early in December (AFP via Getty)

Senior Tory Jonathan Gullis, another supporter of tighter migration controls, wrote on X: “This decision is deeply disappointing and undermines our efforts.”

And Miriam Cates, co-chair of the increasingly powerful New Conservatives group of backbenchers, said the partial U-turn “does not bode well”.

Sir John Hayes, chairman of the Common Sense Group, a close ally of sacked home secretary Suella Braverman, said the earnings threshold must rise to £38,700 “quickly” to give people “certainty”.

“That needs to be done with speed so that people know where they stand,” Mr Hayes told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday.

Home secretary James Cleverly announced in early December the family visa change increase from £18,600 to £38,700 as part of a package of measures to curb legal migration.

It came after official statistics put net migration at a record of 745,000 – sparking howls of outrage from the Tory benches.

However, the move attracted criticism as it threatened to tear families apart, with many having their future in Britain thrown into doubt.

Rishi Sunak has vowed to cut legal migration and stop the boats (PA)

Home Office minister Lord Sharpe of Epsom confirmed the rowing back change to a new £29,000 in answer to a written parliamentary question on Thursday. The minister said the threshold would be “increased in incremental stages to give predictability”.

In a factsheet detailing its plans, the Home Office confirmed that changes to the family visa scheme would only apply to new applicants.

Anyone granted a fiancee visa before the minimum income threshold is raised will also be assessed against the £18,600 requirement when they apply for a family visa, rather than the new threshold.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper meanwhile said the change was “more evidence of Tory government chaos on immigration and the economy”.

She said: “They failed to consult anyone on their new proposals and took no account of the impact of steep spousal visa changes on families next year, so it’s no surprise they are now rowing back in a rush.”

The Liberal Democrats said the planned £38,700 threshold had always been “unworkable”. The party’s home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: “James Cleverly needs to put down the spade and stop digging.”

Robert Jenrick has warned visa changes should not be ‘long-grassed’ (PA)

Reunite Families UK, a group campaigning against the visa changes, said the new £29,000 threshold was still “very high” and could cause huge disruption.

They said the new plan to raise the threshold gradually was “baffling”, saying: “The process is already complicated enough without this too.”

Unison and the National Care Forum have urged ministers to ditch any increase. “The social care sector simply couldn’t function without overseas staff.”

Meanwhile, Mr Sunak said his intention is to use a military base in his constituency to house refugees from Afghanistan, after it was reported he had scrapped plans for an asylum seeker facility on the site.

The PM said it was “not right” to suggest his constituency was different from any other. He said the Ministry of Defence and Home Office had “concluded that Catterick isn’t right for a large asylum site – but the intention is to use it to house refugees from Afghanistan”.

Elsewhere, Mr Cleverly warned that he will “fight tooth and nail” against any MPs who try to kill the Rwanda deportation bill – as rebel Tories on both left and right plot to amend the legislation when it comes back in January.

The home secretary said he was open to “little additional things to make it even better”, but said the government would “very robustly defend ourselves” against attempts to make big changes.

Grilled on GB News on whether the government had found an airline willing to undertake the Rwanda flights, Mr Cleverly said the Home Office was “not at the stage yet where we can have those commercial negotiations”.

The cabinet minister could not give any timeline for the flights to take off. And he defended the money to both France and Rwanda in a bid to “stop the boats”, saying the “defence of the realm does not come for free”.