Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has slammed recent immigration statistics and said it cannot go on as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was issued an urgent warning about migration.
Writing on social media platform X, Ms Braverman said: “1.4 million people were granted visas here last year. Asylum approvals are at a record high. Work & student visa numbers, including many dependents, are appalling.
“This cannot go on: we don’t have enough homes, GPs or schools to support this level. The PM must adopt policies I pushed for that would have prevented this national disaster: we need a cap on overall numbers.
“Britain will be unrecognisable if this carries on. It’s not what the British people, including me, voted for.”
Alongside her post, Ms Braverman shared a link which took users to a page showing the latest immigration statistics put together by the Home Office.
According to the data, the number of entry clearance visas granted in 2023 was 20 percent higher than in 2022 and seven percent higher than before the pandemic. They added that the increase was “primarily due to 560,365 more visitor visas” that “made up over half of total visas granted in 2023”.
The statistics also revealed that more work and study visas had been granted in 2023 than in 2019, up from 19 percent to 36 percent.
The increase in migration, both legal and illegal, has put greater pressure on Rishi Sunak ahead of a general election, the date of which is unknown, later this year.
Ms Braverman’s warning came on the same day it was announced that the UK spent £5.4billion on supporting asylum seekers in the past year, far more than was allocated in the 2023/24 Home Office budget.
According to analysis, the budget for support had been exceeded by a staggering £4.3 billion.
Nigel Farage also erupted over the new statistics, saying that the Tories have told a “pack of lies” to voters.
In a video posted on X, Mr Farage said: “So this morning we get the Home Office stats for migration in 2023. If you add up work visas, health care visas and study visas we issued last year 1.4 million visas.
“That number is completely out of control in every way. Add to that family reunions are up, the numbers granted asylum has trebled and you can see under this Conservative government all we’ve had is 14 years of total and utter lies.
“Lies at every single time there’s an election, every manifesto, it’s all a pack of lies. The population explosion in Britain is continuing and its bad effects on people’s lives just get worse and worse, they’ve failed.”
In a statement following the announcement, a spokesperson for the Home Office said: “The number of people arriving in the UK has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.
“Tackling the issue of illegal migration requires bold, innovative solutions – our partnership with Rwanda offers just that.”
