Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party got it “wrong” on immigration, leading to a strain on public services and making integration harder.
Badenoch outlined the core principles of Conservative new immigration policy – including re-committing her party to a “strict numerical cap” on migration.
The Conservatives spent 14 years in government pledging to reduce the number of people coming to the UK but net migration – the difference between those entering and leaving – hit a record of 745,000 in 2022 before dropping last year to 685,000.
Labour said it welcomed the Conservatives “finally accepting that immigration spiralled out of control on their watch”.
At a hastily called press conference ahead of Thursday’s new migration figures, Badenoch said “on behalf of the Conservative Party it is right that I, as the new leader, accept responsibility and say truthfully we got it wrong”.
She did not set out what the cap on immigration numbers would be if her party wins the next election.
But she pledged a full review of “every policy, treaty and part of our legal framework” including migrant benefits and the role of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Human Rights Act.
Under her, the Conservatives will advocate for tightening access to British Passports and “zero tolerance” of foreign criminals staying in the UK, she said.
Challenged on why a numerical cap would work under her leadership when past attempts have not, she said past leaders “thought stating a number was enough” and “hoped things would work out”.
When fully set out, her cap would “explain how you get to those numbers”.
She also said that the Conservatives still believed that a “deterrent” was necessary but did not commit to a revival of the Rwanda scheme scrapped by Labour.
Speaking ahead of publication of the latest net migration figures, Badenoch claimed that any fall in numbers would be due to actions taken by the last Conservative government.
Commenting on Badenoch’s speech, Home Office Angela Eagle said the new Conservative leader “offers no new ideas or alternative to her party’s failed policies of the past”.
“The Conservatives wasted hundreds of millions of pounds in taxpayers’ cash on the Rwanda gimmick, and it’s clear they would do it all over again,” she said.
Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage said the Conservatives “broke their promises on immigration after the 2010, 2015, 2017 and 2019 manifestos”.
“Why on earth would I or anyone else believe them now,” he added.
In her speech, Badenoch said the UK “cannot sustain the numbers we have seen” on immigration.
“We are reducing the quality of life for people already here because immigration is at a pace too fast to maintain public services, and at a rate where it is next to impossible to integrate those from radically different cultures,” she said.
“The ties that bind us start to fray.
“It doesn’t matter whether you are massively for immigration or massively against it, without a shared national identity, our country will suffer.”
This is not the first time Badenoch has criticised her party’s record on immigration.
At her speech at this year’s Conservative Party Conference, she blamed the Treasury for pushing immigration up claiming it “was good for the economy”.
“But we knew it was not good for our country,” she told party members.
When the government “does not grasp the realities” of immigration ” we know it’s time to make a change”, she said.