A strong indication has emerged that the promised cut of
immigration to the tens of thousands may no longer be feasible, as a plan is
being put in place to drop such idea, and that immigration is "not about
numbers."
The Culture Secretary Karen Bradly while speaking on the
issue declined to mention whether the earlier promised target to bring net immigration
to the "tens of thousands" would be in the next manifesto of the
Conservative party.
The flagship pledge was used by the Conservatives in
previous general elections to lure British voters to get to power, and has been
existing for the past seven years which falls within the period Theresa May was
in charge of the Home Office without being able to achieve it to date.
According to recent report, the net migration was put at
273,000 as at the end of 2016, which is still far from the promised target.
During her interview with Sky News, Mrs Bradly stated that: "What
we need is to have the right people, to attract the brightest and best.
"It's not about putting numbers on it, it's about
making sure we can deliver where industries need skills, where brightest and
best want to come to Britain; we want to be an attractive place that people
want to come and work and we want to be the strong economy that pays for those
public services people value so much."
The Culture Secretary further stated that the PM had always
made it clear how immigration should be at "sustainable levels" but
would not be drawn on what those were. Saying that "This is about getting
control of our borders."
In the few weeks, the Conservative manifesto would be
released to the public, where it is expected to promise the British voters
about the party’s readiness to bring an end to free movement of people
post-Brexit.
Conversely, the number of migrants coming from non-EU
nations which can be controlled - has been well over 100,000.
Some Tories, including Home Secretary Amber Rudd, are
pleading that foreign students at UK universities should be taken out of the
target.
Mrs May has constantly vetoed such calls, nevertheless, it report
has that she is now preparing to soften her stance on the issue.
According to The Times, she is now offering a compromise,
which would see the way student numbers are calculated change.
On the other hand a No 10 source said that any recommendation
that foreign students would be removed from the target was "plain
wrong".
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday, Ms Rudd also refused to
be drawn on a net migration target figure, saying she was "working on
it".
She said one thing that was "absolutely clear" is
that they would be "ending the current arrangement on freedom of
movement".
She said there were lots of different elements the party
hoped to pull together for the manifesto but that she could not say any more on
the numbers.
No comments:
Write comments