Boris Johnson and Amber Rudd wobble over Conservative pledge to slash number of immigrants coming to the UK
Promising to reduce the number of new arrivals to the tens of thousands only lets people down, the Foreign Secretary said
BORIS Johnson exploded an extraordinary Cabinet row by calling for the government to scrap its long held immigration target.
Promising to reduce the number of new arrivals to the tens of thousands only lets people down, the Foreign Secretary declared.
The longstanding pledge was originally made six years ago by David Cameron and repeated only last year in the Tories’ general election manifesto.
It drew fury from immigration campaigners last night and earned Boris a slap down from new Premier Theresa May.
Outspoken Boris dropped the bombshell while responding to an earlier wobble on the goal by Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
Despite being repeatedly pressed, the new Home Office boss Ms Rudd repeatedly refused to recommit to the target, saying only that she wanted to bring arrivals down to 'sustainable levels'.
Quizzed on Ms Rudd’s stand during a Foreign Office press conference, Boris insisted: “The Home Secretary is entirely right to be careful about committing to numbers because one doesn’t want to be in a position where you are disappointing people, again.
“What is certainly possible, post leaving the EU, is to have a system of control.”
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But No10 made it clear she believed the target figure was still important.
Handing out a verbal rollocking, the PM’s official spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister’s view is that sustainable levels does mean the tens of thousands.”
In a bid to paper over the cracks with Ms Rudd, Mrs May’s spokeswoman added: “The point the Home Secretary was making is a point the Prime Minister has made, which is that we should have the goal of bringing it down to the sustainable levels”.
Boris’s declaration will also be seen as a withering dig at former PM Mr Cameron for pledging something which he failed to deliver.
Net immigration is currently running at a near-record 333,000 a year, more than three times the pledged target of below 100,000.
Setting a figure to reach is crucial, angry immigration campaigners said.
Migration Watch UK chairman Lord Green told The Sun: “The history of recent years proves that a target is invaluable to achieve the policy focus which the public most certainly most want to see.
“To abandon it, if that is what is suggested, would be a very serious mistake.”
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