UK must train own workers to curb migration – Braverman

Home Secretary Suella Braverman is to give a speech later today where she will emphasise that calling mass migration “unsustainable” is not xenophobic. In her speech, she is expected to call for immigration to the UK to decrease. She will argue that the UK needs to train its own lorry drivers and fruit pickers so we don’t “forget how to do things for ourselves.” Braverman will emphasise the need for the government to fulfil the 2019 pledge to curb migration. As net migration figures for 2022 are expected to reach record highs of 700,000 due to the Ukraine resettlement scheme and an increase in individuals coming to the UK for work and study from outside the UK, the speech serves as a directive for immigration policy and a warning to colleagues hesitant about reducing numbers or relaxing immigration rules.

Braverman will speak at the National Conservativism Conference, where she will address right-wing members of the Conservative party, stressing the need to reduce overall immigration numbers and highlighting the potential to develop a high-skilled, high-wage economy independent of low-skilled foreign labour post-Brexit.

Many will see Braverman’s speech as an attempt for her to present her perspective ahead of the release of the official migration figures.