It’s the day of the government’s immigration white paper and what was supposed to be a Brexit deal vote winning announcement has descended into a Cabinet row. No.10 pressed ahead with the publication – and a briefing went out to hacks near 8pm. The delay has been put down to internal wrangling over several items in that paper – notable the call for a £30,000 minimum salary for five-year working visas. Several pro-immigration ministers say this will damage the economy – and send the wrong message by striking an anti-immigration tone.
The tensions were apparent even this morning when Sajid Javid appeared on the Today programme to discuss the policy proposals. He began the interview by stressing the positives of immigration to the UK – insisting the UK will be an ‘open, welcome’ country. Rather than wax lyrical about hardline immigration lines briefed out over the weekend (calling for immigration to fall by 80pc), Javid refused to even say that he was committed to reducing immigration to the tens of thousands. Asked if he was abandoning the pledge:
‘In our manifesto we committed ourselves to bringing net migration down to sustainable levels.
On the specific figure:
‘Well I think in the manifesto we said it was an ambition.’
The problem is government sources have since briefed out that the government stands by the tens of thousands target.
So, what is going on? It’s safe to say that Sajid Javid takes a less hardline approach to immigration than Theresa May. No.10 has pressed its authority on the white paper – but given that only last week ministers and MPs had to move to prop May’s shaky government up and save it from collapse, the Downing Street power move is going down particularly badly. May’s allies had hoped the Prime Minister would go into listening mode and hear their arguments for a more liberal immigration policy going forward.
Comments