Following the release of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) population forecast data, former Conservative Party deputy chairman Lee Anderson has issued a scathing four-word assessment of Britain’s migration policy.
The Ashfield MP resigned his position as deputy chairman of the party over Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda Bill, designed to stop the boats arriving from France carrying asylum seekers. In the end the 57-year-old abstained from the vote on the bill, instead of voting against it.
On January 30, Mr Anderson took to X to react to the ONS figures, which predicts that by mid-2036 the UK population will be up to 73.7 million and by mid-2046 it will be 76.7 million.
In a four word statement on social media, he simply said: “This is not sustainable”, later adding: “I have never understood the clamour for cheap foreign labour. It is not cheaper. The true cost is the pressure it puts on all our services. Good businesses strive to be more productive by doing more with less labour costs. A country should be no different if it wants to be more productive per capita.”
The outspoken MP, who hails from a family of coalminers, was not the only Tory voice concerned with the ONS projections. Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick took to social media to decry the country’s migration policy.
The Newark MP said: “The @ONS forecast that 92 percent of our population growth (2021-36) will come from immigration. That’s not how you create a united country. From 2028 they forecast net migration at 315,000. This will only deepen the housing crisis.”
The 42-year-old resigned his post in December last year over the Prime Minister’s attempt to resurrect his Rwanda policy. He joined a growing group of right-wing rebels within the Tory Party, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
In the ONS’ report detailing its predictions, it said: “Over the 15 years between mid-2021 and mid-2036, the UK population is projected to grow by 6.6 million people (9.9 percent) from an estimated 67.0 million to 73.7 million; this includes 541,000 more births than deaths, and net international migration of 6.1 million people.”
It added: “The UK population is projected to reach 70 million by mid-2026; this growth is faster than in the 2020-based projections released in January 2023 with the projected increase mainly resulting from international migration.”
Brexit champion Nigel Farage reacted to the figures on his GB News show, saying: “Many millions will move here who we have nothing culturally, historically, and literally nothing in common, and I believe the implications of that for our society are very serious”.
