Only migrants earning £40,000 or more should be allowed into UK, says Boris Johnson
ONLY migrants earning more than £40,000 should be let into Britain, Boris Johnson said last night.
The former PM piled pressure on his successor Rishi Sunak to get a grip on the record number of arrivals.
Restless Tory MPs are baying for urgent action after it emerged 745,000 people came to the UK last year.
They will likely be further emboldened by Mr Johnson’s demands to increase the salary threshold for visa applicants.
He wrote in the Mail: “We decided post-Brexit to be cautious, and partly at the urgings of business we put the minimum at only £26,000.
“But it is clear from these numbers that we pitched it way too low.”
He said hiking it to £40,000 was the best course even though it would send rich bosses who use cheap foreign labour “crackers”.
Mr Johnson said: “People will not accept demographic change at this kind of pace — even in the most achingly liberal of countries and capital cities.”
Mr Sunak yesterday begged people to trust him in curbing the numbers and admitted current levels are “too high”.
It is understood No10 is looking at increasing the salary threshold, as well as clamping down on dependents of workers.
Last night ex-No10 pollster James Johnson warned the party was drinking in the last chance saloon after failing repeatedly to honour promises to reduce net migration.
He told The Sun: “Ignore anyone in the bubbles of academia or Twitter telling you that the public are in love with immigration. They’re not.
“Voters overwhelmingly think numbers are too high, and are deeply concerned about the impact on their communities and services.
“It is imperative the Tories act fast to reduce numbers if they want any chance at the next election — and to be credible they will need to back that up with action, not just talk.”
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak’s plan to salvage the Rwanda plan appears to have been delayed.
Last week ministers said the new treaty would be published in days but insiders are now not expecting the final document for a few weeks.
It means the new deal will likely not be ratified by Parliament until after Christmas.
Yesterday ex-Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel laid into ministers for failing on the scheme she started.
She told TalkTV: The government needs to roll its sleeves up and make that plan deliverable.
“I had an army of officials in the Home Office that were working day in, day out on the quality of that scheme. So questions have to be asked what has gone wrong and they need to fix it.”