Suella Braverman has warned current levels of immigration “cannot go on” as she said Britain will become “unrecognisable” unless the number of people coming to the country is cut.
The former Home Secretary declared “we don’t have enough homes, GPs or schools” to support the 1.4 million people granted visas last year.
And she criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for failing to prevent “this national disaster”.
Official figures yesterday showed record numbers of foreign workers arrived last year, with 616,371 work visas issued – up from 421,565 in 2022.
The number of foreign employees issued with a health and social care visa has also skyrocketed, the Home Office figures show.
Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman has criticised the Prime Minister for failing to do more (Image: Getty)
Suella Braverman clashed with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over reducing net migration (Image: Getty)
But Mrs Braverman, who was sacked in November, blasted the Rishi Sunak’s record on cutting migration, warning: “1.4 million people were granted visas here last year. Asylum approvals at a record high.
“Work and student visa numbers, including many dependents, are appalling.
“This cannot go on. We don’t have enough homes, GPs or schools to support this level.
“The PM must adopt policies I pushed for that would have prevented this national disaster: we need a cap on overall numbers.
“Britain will be unrecognisable if this carries on. It’s not what the British people, including me, voted for.
The Home Office issued 616,371 work visas to foreign employees and their family members, 605,504 to students from abroad and their relatives, 85,640 family visas, 17,705 family permits to European citizens, 41,767 visas to Ukrainian refugees and 28,303 to Hong Kong residents in the year to December.
The think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, said the number of visas issued on “core routes” – work, study and family – had increased to 1.29 million – up from 1.09 million in 2022.
The number of visa extensions has also surged by 22% last year.
Mrs Braverman told the Daily Express: “There has been a lot of resistance around the Cabinet table to reducing overall numbers for a number of years.
“It’s part of traditional Treasury and OBR logic which states that more people equals a bigger economy.
“But this is a con.
“We’ve artificially kept growth running at less than 1% by pumping millions more people from abroad into the economy at the expense of our own citizens who have seen wages depressed and living standards fall for years.
“We owe it to the British people to sort this out – it’s existential and what has been consistently voted for over decades and a large part of why we voted for Brexit.”
But a Government source said of the warnings: “The period covered by these figures was when she was Home Secretary, so this is her own record she’s criticising.”
Shock analysis has revealed a surge in the number of foreign workers arriving on health and social care visas.
The number of such visas approved by the Home Office doubled to 146,477.
And the number of dependents granted visas has rocketed to 279,131 – up 80%. Relatives of those issued a health and care visa accounted for 73% of dependants who arrived in the year to December.
The number of care workers granted visas tripled to 105,881 after rules were relaxed to fill 150,000 vacancies in the sector.
Home Office figures showed that Indian (18,664), Nigerian (18,143) and Zimbabwean (15,279) nationals accounted for almost six in 10 (58%) of the visas granted to care workers and home carer occupations last year.
Indian nationals accounted for more than half (51%) of visa grants for nurses (11,322 grants), and just under a third (32%) of senior care worker visas (5,301 grants), the department said.
Union bosses have claimed the care sector would collapse without a migrant workforce.
Migration Watch Chairman Alp Mehmet said: “Yet more astonishing figures. Immigration remains completely out of control. This is what happens when the reins are handed to employers, universities and special interest groups.
“If net migration continues at present levels our population will increase by over 20 million people within 25 years, posing serious risks to future cohesion, stability and the economy.
“With population growth equating to 18 cities the size of Birmingham, the integration of newcomers will be all but impossible.”
UK border (Image: Getty)
New rules from March 11 will see care workers banned from bringing their loved ones to the UK under the visa, in a measure the Government hopes can tackle what it has described as “unsustainable and unfair levels of migration”.
Ministers hope to slash net migration by 300,000 through the changes introduced in December, including new restrictions on foreign students, a minimum salary threshold and curbs on bringing dependants to the UK.
Health and care staff will not be affected by increases in salary thresholds that will be brought in this April from £26,200 to £38,700.
Conservative MP Tim Loughton told the Daily Express: “The problem is that these figures are still historic, before the clampdown on dependants in particular, comes in.
“But that does go to show just how necessary it was to remove the possibility of care workers and many overseas students bringing various family members with them.”
Responding to the latest visa data released, the Home Office, CPS Research Director Karl Williams said: “The latest Home Office data may, at first glance, contain signs that we have reached peak migration.
“But looking beyond the headlines, we can see that there was a sharp fall in visas issued to migrants from Ukraine and Hong Kong.
“The number of visas issued on core work, study and family routes increased by 19% in 2023, to a record 1.29 million, up from 1.09 million in 2022.
“Previous analysis by the CPS has found that, based on ONS population projections, we will need to build at least 5.7 million homes in England over 15 years, with net migration accounting for 41% of this figure (2.34 million homes).
“Based on figures announced today, the pressures from record migration – on schools, hospitals, and on housing – show no signs of abating.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister and Home Secretary have been clear that current levels of migration to the UK are far too high which is why the government took decisive action at the end of last year to deliver the largest migration cut ever. Our fair and robust reforms will mean 300,000 people who came to the UK last year would now not be able to come.
“These latest statistics pre-date the package of measures announced by the Home Secretary coming into force, which will deliver the long-term reduction the public expect to see.”
