Former frontbench MP Robert Jenrick claims the number of immigrants living in Britain would make it “impossible” to integrate everyone into society.
Jenrick, who served as immigration minister under Rishi Sunak, quit on Wednesday over concerns about the Rwanda plan. He has now warned the Conservatives will face the “red-hot fury of voters at the ballot box” if they fail to bring down the levels of immigration.
Writing in The Telegraph, Jenrick outlined how he would plan to tackle both legal and illegal migration. He said the Prime Minister was not keeping his word to “do whatever it takes” to stop the boats.
The former minister says the controversial Rwanda Bill doesn’t go far enough to crackdown on immigration and claims it would result in “half-filled” flights due to a “merry-go-round” of appeals and challenges.
Jenrick resigned from the frontbench after losing a battle to strengthen the Bill. He outlined a series of measures he said would reduce the record levels of net migration.
He now says emergency legislation will provide a chance for Right-wing Tories to revolt. The Rwanda Bill faces a second reading in the House of Common on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister is said to be preparing to lobby his MPs this weekend hoping they will back the Bill.
In a column, Jenrick now says successive governments failed to address legal migration. He said: “GP services and hospitals do not grow on trees. Integration is impossible if you let in over 1.2 million new people as we have done over the last two years.
“There is no better example of the failed Westminster consensus over the last 30 years than allowing historically unprecedented levels of immigration, resulting in disastrous consequences for the country and at every stage ignoring the express wishes of voters.
“Centre-right parties across Europe have a choice – begin to deliver on the mainstream concerns of ordinary people when it comes to immigration or face their red-hot fury at the ballot box.”
There is no better example of the failed Westminster consensus over the last 30 years than allowing historically unprecedented levels of immigration, resulting in disastrous consequences for the country and at every stage ignoring the express wishes of voters.
“Centre-right parties across Europe have a choice – begin to deliver on the mainstream concerns of ordinary people when it comes to immigration or face their red-hot fury at the ballot box.”
Jenrick wants to see the government going even further than planned to tackle migration. He says he wants to see official caps on visas, an overhaul of the two-year graduate visa route, and to stop universities from exploiting the lucrative foreign student market.
He claims universities are “marketing low grade courses” as a “backdoor to a life in the UK”. Earlier this week Sunak claimed the current Rwanda Bill was “the only approach” to get flights off the ground while blocking a “vanishingly small” number of challenges.
Jenrick says the “beleaguered” Home Office found the UK “beyond breaking point” when he arrived 12 months ago. It was the height of the small boat arrivals.
He also said it was “indefensible” and “farcical” to fill hotels with asylum seekers.
While Sunak claimed there would be a small number of challenges to the Rwanda plan, Jenrick says it would create pressure for the UK courts. He added: “Backlogs will likely build, and cases that would at best take months to resolve will be stayed considerably longer.
“Injunctions will likely follow. And we will begin losing bail claims, forcing us to release people from detention. People will of course abscond and disappear into communities.”
He also warned flights could still be blocked by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. It prompted Jenrick to call for Britain to quit international treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights.
He says Britain could have better control of its borders if it “extricated itself” from the “complex web of international frameworks”.
