Cabinet breaks ranks to warn Sunak: Get tougher on migration

Business secretary Kemi Badenoch leads calls for radical new measures to tackle record numbers – as PM’s flagship ‘stop the boats’ policy is rocked by delay to Rwanda treaty

Rishi Sunak’s immigration plan was hit by fresh turmoil after No 10 admitted its new Rwanda treaty had been delayed and ministers broke rank to push the PM for “much tougher” moves to get record-high migration numbers down.

Downing Street refused to commit to having the revised Rwanda pact in place before Christmas, saying only that it would be ready “in the coming weeks” – having previously promised it would published in “days”.

It came as cabinet rifts over immigration deepened, with business secretary Kemi Badenoch revealing that she was “pushing” for Mr Sunak to take “much, much tougher measures” to tackle record-high net migration.

Meanwhile, immigration minister Robert Jenrick moved to quell Tory anger – insisting that the Rwanda plan remained “extremely important” after backbench MPs challenged home secretary James Cleverly over his claim it was not the “be all and end all” of the stop the boats push.

The Independent understands a new crackdown on legal migration to address record-high numbers has also been delayed, as different departments continue to argue about how far Mr Sunak should go.

The developments came as:

• Suella Braverman revealed details of a “secret” four-point immigration plan she claims Mr Sunak agreed to.
• Ms Badenoch said she would not be “mealy-mouthed” about pushing for the “strongest measures possible” to cut net migration.
• Levelling-up secretary Michael Gove claimed the UK does not have enough housing to cope with record-high migration.
• Right-wing Tories piled pressure on Mr Cleverly to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Senior Tory Steve Brine said slashing migration to keep Ms Braverman happy was not good for society or the economy.

No 10 had said in the hours after the 15 November Supreme Court ruling against the Rwanda plan that an updated deal with the central African country would be produced in the “coming days”. On 16 November, Mr Cleverly said the deal was “pretty much” ready to be done “within days, not weeks or months”.

But on Monday, the PM’s official spokesman refused to commit to having the pact with Kigali in place before Christmas – saying only it would be set out “in the coming weeks”.

Grilled by reporters on why there had been such a long delay, the PM’s spokesman said No 10 was working to give the government the “strongest possible position because we want both the treaty and the bill to have the best possible chance of success”.

James Cleverly had promised new Rwanda treaty in ‘days’ (Getty Images)

Mr Cleverly’s comment at the weekend that the scheme was not the “be all and end all” of small boats policy had angered some on the right of the party – given the new home secretary is known to be opposed to pulling out of, or ignoring, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Right-wing Tory MP James Morris shared concerns about Mr Cleverly’s remarks – challenging immigration minister Mr Jenrick, an ally of sacked hardliner Ms Braverman, to say if he shared those sentiments.

Visibly angry at the jeering from the Labour benches over Tory splits, Mr Jenrick insisted that the Rwanda deportation flights remained an “extremely important component” of the stop the boats plan.

Seeking to calm Tory frustration at the failure to act, Mr Cleverly also told MPs in the Commons that the Rwanda plan was “an incredibly important part of the basket of responses that we have”.

Mr Cleverly shrugged off a question from right-winger Simon Clarke, who said it was his “profound conviction” that the government must disapply the ECHR and UN Refugee Convention to get the Rwanda flights off the ground.

Kemi Badenoch said she was ‘pushing’ for ‘much tougher’ measures (PA Wire)

Ms Badenoch said she was “pushing” for Mr Sunak to take “much tougher measures” to get net migration down, after it hit a record annual high of 745,000.

The business secretary added to pressure on the PM, after details of Mr Jenrick’s five-point plan to crack down on visa numbers and relatives brought into the country by NHS staff revealed a major split in government.

Speaking to LBC on Monday, Ms Badenoch said: “I am certainly in favour of us doing whatever it takes to bring the numbers down to a sustainable level. This is not something that I’m being mealy-mouthed about.”

The cabinet minister added: “I certainly will be pushing for the strongest measures possible.”

Earlier, Ms Braverman’s camp had revealed details of a “secret” four-point migration plan Mr Sunak is said to have agreed with her as he sought her support to become PM last year.

Her allies claimed he promised to raise the salary threshold for migrants to £40,000, close down the graduate visa route, restrict the number of dependents migrants can bring to the UK and prioritise overseas students applying for Russell Group universities.

Mr Sunak did not sign the deal, but agreed to it verbally on multiple occasions, allies of Ms Braverman told The Telegraph. The PM’s official spokesman said on Monday that No 10 does not “recognise that characterisation” of deals made during the leadership bid.

Mr Gove also suggested he favoured tougher action on legal immigration, as he said the UK does not have enough homes to cope with record-high net migration.

Asked if housing levels were not enough to cope with rising immigration levels, the levelling-up secretary told Times Radio: “Yes. In fact, I think actually the situation is, if anything, worse than you depict.”

Mr Gove added: “It is the case that the migratory flows put more pressure on housing, but we haven’t built enough homes overall for generations.”

Robert Jenrick told MPs Rwanda plan remains ‘extremely important’ (PA Wire)

Mr Sunak is said to be ready to cut the number of relatives foreign health and social care workers are allowed to bring to only one.

But Mr Jenrick is thought to be pushing him to go further by bringing in a cap on visas for people working in the NHS and social care, and a ban on foreign social care workers from bringing any dependents.

Senior Conservative MP Steve Brine hit out at the possibility of new restrictions on NHS and social care visas. “We need these workers … particularly in social care,” said the chair of the health select committee.

“They are the people who look after your ailing parents and grandparents when families can’t because they’re working,” he told Times Radio – urging Mr Sunak to ignore Ms Braverman.

“If we’re just going to slash migration so that we can, you know, meet a political priority, and please the former home secretary, then I don’t think we’re serving the society and the economy as we should be.”

NHS Employers, the National Care Association and the Unison health union have written a joint letter to Mr Sunak warning against the “ruinous” assumption foreign staff will come to the UK if they are not allowed to bring family members.

Tory MPs challenged the government to set out changes in response to the net migration figures. Right-winger Jonathan Gullis said Mr Cleverly should “copy and paste” the plan by the right-wing New Conservatives group to crack down on visas for student and their dependents.

Fellow right-winger Miriam Cates, co-founder of the New Conservatives, said the government’s new Rwanda legislation should be “clear and unambiguous” in making sure parliament “takes legal precedence over the interpretation of international treaties and precedent”.

With the Commons’ recess due to begin on 19 December, there are not enough sitting days to ratify the new Rwanda treaty before the New Year.

Mr Sunak’s spokesman also refused to comment on “speculation” about what the agreement will entail following reports Rwanda was refusing to sign a treaty that would include British officials’ involvement in its legal system.

The Independent understands that the Rwandan government believes its own laws are robust enough to make the treaty work – and would be highly unlikely to accept any infringement upon their sovereignty as part of an updated pact.