Priti Patel has put out a press release insisting she “was not joyful” in regards to the ranges of immigration underneath the earlier Conservative authorities, after earlier defending her get together’s report.
Within the earlier interview, Patel additionally declined to apologise for an increase within the numbers coming to the UK which passed off when she was residence secretary.
Chatting with The Solar’s By no means Thoughts The Ballots, Patel, now shadow international secretary, stated it was “completely distortionary” to recommend the federal government wherein she served had thrown open the UK’s borders.
Her get together chief Kemi Badenoch appeared to distance herself from the remarks, along with her spokesman saying the Conservatives would “inform the reality in regards to the errors we made”.
“Whereas the final Conservative authorities might have tried to manage numbers, we didn’t ship,” he added.
Final yr, shortly after turning into chief, Badenoch held a press convention wherein she stated the rise in immigration had been “a collective failure of political leaders from all events over a long time… however on behalf of the Conservative get together, as the brand new chief, it’s proper that I settle for duty and say honestly, we obtained this mistaken.”
Figures launched in 2024 confirmed web migration to the UK hit a report 906,000 within the yr to June 2023, earlier than falling to 728,000 the next yr.
Immigration rose sharply underneath the points-based system for work visas, launched after Brexit.
Challenged on the figures in an interview on Thursday, Patel – who was residence secretary between 2019 and 2022 – sought to defend the Conservative’s report on immigration.
She stated the points-based system had allowed the federal government to manage the movement of immigration based mostly on “what our economic system wants and what it does not want”.
Requested if she ought to apologise to voters who have been instructed Brexit would result in a discount in immigration, Patel stated: “I didn’t mislead them”.
“We made it fairly clear it will be individuals from the remainder of the world, individuals with abilities” coming into the UK post-Brexit, she added.
She stated many individuals got here to the UK on well being and social care visas, including: “Are we now saying we do not want these individuals in our NHS?”
Nonetheless, she additionally stated she was “not high quality” with massive rises in immigration and argued that the earlier authorities ought to have achieved extra to coach individuals within the UK as an alternative of counting on international labour to fill gaps in sectors akin to farming.
Requested why that had not occurred, she stated: “That is an excellent query that ought to have been posed to [environment ministers] and to others.
“I used to be doing different nationwide safety points – the job of the house secretary.”
Responding to the interview, Labour labelled the Conservatives “out of contact” and stated Patel “appears pleased with her central function within the Tory open-border experiment”.
Reform UK chief Nigel Farage stated the Conservatives had a “disastrous report on immigration – and would do it once more”.
Just a few hours after the interview was broadcast, Patel posted a message on social media wherein she stated: “The immigration system in our nation shouldn’t be match for goal.
“As I stated within the interview, I used to be not joyful in regards to the excessive numbers whereas the Conservatives have been in authorities.
“Our get together is now underneath new management and it’s important we study from our errors and the way we are able to do issues higher.”
