Kemi Badenoch admits Tories ‘did not deliver’ on immigration - and will review ECHR membership

27 November 2024, 18:14 | Updated: 27 November 2024, 18:56

Kemi Badenoch has vowed to review ECHR membership and introduce an annual immigration cap in a new Tory approach.

Speaking ahead of the latest migration figures being published on Thursday, Ms Badenoch suggested she was willing to change in her position on the UK's membership of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

She said during the Conservative leadership election that leaving the treaty would not be a "silver bullet" to end high net migration.

But the Tory leader has since suggested that she is willing to consider leaving the ECHR following a review.

In a speech in Westminster on Wednesday afternoon, she said the UK cannot sustain current levels of immigration.

To deal with the growing numbers, a hard annual cap on legal inflows will be introduced, Ms Badenoch said.

However, she would not specify a number.

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"Immigration is at a pace too fast to maintain public services. And at a rate where it is next to impossible to integrate those from radically different cultures," Ms Badenoch said.

"It is time to tell the truth. For decades the entire political class of this country has presided over mass migration...

"We ended free movement but the system that replaced it is not working."

Ms Badenoch went on to say that the Tories needed to "learn from our mistakes", adding: "We will review every policy, treaty and part of our legal framework, including the ECHR and the Human Rights Act.

"And in designing our detailed policies will put the following elements at the core.

"A strict numerical cap with visas only for those who will make a substantial and clear overall contribution.

"A fully transparent approach publishing all the data so for the first time everyone can see the real costs and benefits of different types of migration."

Asked why she would not reveal what the upper limit of her migration cap would be, the Tory leader suggested she wanted a detailed plan in place first.

Hitting out at Keir Starmer and his legal background, Ms Badenoch added: "I'm not somebody who just talks. I'm not a lawyer. I'm an engineer. Before we say things, we have to have a proper plan about how we deliver on the cap."

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp added that the Tories would make sure theirs was a "cap that bites", after it was put to him previous migration caps did not help with public trust in politics.

Ms Badenoch also said Thursday's migration data - the latest to be published by the Home Office - will "likely show a reduction in net immigration".

She claimed the Labour Government would try to take credit for this, adding: "But that change is due to the reforms that the Conservatives made in our final months in power."

Responding to the speech, Home Office minister Angela Eagle said: "It's welcome the Tories finally accept that immigration spiralled out of control on their watch.

"But Kemi Badenoch offers no new ideas or alternative to her party's failed policies of the past.

"The Conservatives wasted hundreds of millions of pounds in taxpayers' cash on the Rwanda gimmick, and it's clear they would do it all over again. The Tories have learned nothing.

"Labour is fixing the foundations and getting a grip on the Tories' immigration chaos. Our new Border Security Command is working with our European partners to smash the criminal gang networks driving small boat crossings, and we're ramping up the removal of people with no right to be in the UK."