The shadow home secretary has doubled down on Kemi Badenoch’s criticism of the Conservatives’ record on immigration, arguing “mistakes were made”.
Chris Philp, a former Home Office minister, joined the Tory leader in criticising the previous government over immigration after former home secretary Dame Priti Patel refused to apologise for the points-based system she introduced.
Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News Breakfast, Mr Philp said: “The truth is, as Kemi has said – and as I have said repeatedly – mistakes were made by the previous government.
“Kemi and I have been completely honest about that. We’ve told the truth. Mistakes were made.”
The row comes following analysis from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing the UK population is set to grow by five million people in 10 years, despite death rates being projected to overtake birth rates in that time.
All of the forecast population growth is due to migration.
Dame Priti, who served as home secretary from 2019 to 2022, appeared on The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots earlier this week, where she was challenged about the fact immigration to the UK hit 1.2m per year following the introduction of her system in 2021.
She said the Tories “always said” there would be more migration from the rest of the world after Brexit – although she admitted she did not anticipate the figure being so high.
However, the now shadow foreign secretary defended the principle behind her points-based system, saying it marked the end of the freedom of movement and allowed the “brightest and best” to work in the UK.
“Brightest and the best coming to our country? People on skilled work routes and visas? It’s legal migration,” she said,
“It’s legal. People who come here and work and contribute to our economy – brightest and best.”
Challenged again on the 1.2m number, Dame Priti said: “What would you say to the Ukrainians who are in our country? What would you say to the BNOs [British Nationals Overseas]? What would you say also to people that came here from conflict?”
She also insisted the level of legal migration is from people coming on skilled visas, particularly to work in the health and social care sector, which was especially important during the pandemic.
Mr Philp told Sky News that 1.2m people was “far too high” and it was now Conservative policy to have a “hard, legally binding cap” on the number of visas that would be issued – although he did not say what it would be.
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Following the interview, Ms Badenoch released a statement disavowing Dame Priti’s comments.
A spokesman for the Tory leader said: “While the last Conservative government may have tried to control numbers, we did not deliver.”
They added it was now Conservative policy to introduce a “hard cap on numbers” because immigration remains “far too high”.
Following the rebuke, Dame Priti issued her own statement in which she attempted to water down the defence she had made.
She wrote on X: “The immigration system in our country is not fit for purpose. As I said in the interview, I was not happy about the high numbers while the Conservatives were in government.
“Our party is now under new leadership and it is important we learn from our mistakes and how we can do things better.”
