UK must train own workers to curb migration – Braverman

The home secretary will say it is “not xenophobic” to call mass migration “unsustainable”, in a speech calling for immigration to the UK to come down.

Suella Braverman will say there is “no good reason” the UK cannot train its own lorry drivers and fruit pickers.

It comes as net migration figures for 2022, due to be published next week, are predicted to hit record highs.

Ms Braverman will also say the government must remember their 2019 election pledge to curb migration.

The home secretary is clearly trying to set out a direction of travel for immigration policy in her speech.

It’s also likely to be seen as a bit of a warning shot for colleagues who are minded to argue against reducing numbers or considering relaxing immigration rules to solve immediate shortages.

The government has recently been focusing on tackling illegal migration, in particular small boat crossings – which has been a Conservative pledge for a number of years.

At the National Conservativism Conference on Monday, Ms Braverman will tell Tories on the right of the party that overall immigration numbers need to come down.

We must not “forget how to do things for ourselves” she will say, adding: “There is no good reason why we can’t train up enough HGV drivers, butchers or fruit pickers.”

Visa rules have been relaxed or adjusted in some sectors in recent years to tackle worker shortages.

The home secretary will say Brexit enables a high-skilled, high wage economy to be built “that is less dependent on low-skilled foreign labour”.

The net migration figure for 2022, due to be released next week, is estimated to be at least 700,000 – according to analysis by the centre-right think tank the Centre for Policy Studies.

This would be a record high, driven in part by the Ukraine resettlement scheme, but mostly by an increase in people coming to the UK to work and study from outside the EU.

Ms Braverman first became home secretary in September 2022, so will arguably have largely inherited the set of migration figures due out later this month.

By making this speech now she is, in effect, getting her pitch in first before those numbers are released.

Ms Braverman is also expected to use the speech to argue it is “not racist” to want to control Britain’s borders and she is not embarrassed to say she loves Britain.

“It’s not xenophobic to say that mass and rapid migration is unsustainable in terms of housing supply, service and community relations.”

Senior ministers, Tory MPs and right-wing commentators will gather at the three-day event in London, including Michael Gove, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Lord Frost.

Ms Braverman will also say: “I reject the left’s argument that it is hypocritical for someone from an ethnic minority to know these facts; to speak these truths.”

Reports that Education Secretary Gillian Keegan had been involved in “watering down” proposals to restrict dependents of students have been rejected by a source at the Department of Education.

The source said Ms Keegan had vocally supported the “benefits of international students” and suggested others in government had done the same.

The Times has also reported that Ms Keegan blocked plans to reduce the time foreign students can stay in the UK after finishing their course.