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In a recent interview on The Sun’s Never Mind The Ballots, Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, defended her party’s record on immigration while declining to apologize for the rise in immigration that occurred when she was home secretary. Patel insisted that it was “totally distortionary” to suggest that the government had thrown open the UK’s borders during her time in office. She also stated that she was “not fine” with the big rises in immigration and argued that the previous government should have done more to train people in the UK instead of relying on foreign labor to fill gaps in sectors such as farming.
Her party leader, Kemi Badenoch, seemed to distance herself from Patel’s remarks, with her spokesman stating that the Conservatives would “tell the truth about the mistakes we made.” Badenoch had previously held a press conference in which she accepted responsibility for the rise in immigration, calling it “a collective failure of political leaders from all parties over decades.”
According to figures released in 2024, net migration to the UK hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023, before falling to 728,000 the following year. Immigration rose sharply under the points-based system for work visas, which was introduced after Brexit.
Patel defended the points-based system, stating that it allowed the government to control the flow of immigration based on “what our economy needs and what it doesn’t need.” However, she also stated that she was “not happy” with the levels of immigration under the previous Conservative government.
In response to the interview, Labour labeled the Conservatives “out of touch” and accused Patel of being proud of her central role in the Tory open-border experiment. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage criticized the Conservative’s record on immigration and warned that they would do it again.
A few hours after the interview was broadcast, Patel posted a message on social media in which she acknowledged that the immigration system in the UK was not fit for purpose and stated that she was not happy about the high numbers when the Conservatives were in government. She emphasized the importance of learning from past mistakes and doing better in the future
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