Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman fell out over immigration policy during her time as home secretary. Photo: Phil Noble/AP
Rishi Sunak has refused to meet Suella Braverman within a year to discuss cuts to legal migration, the former home secretary has said.
Ms Braverman said the PM The minister does not consider rising net migration levels to be an «important issue for the British people.»
Mr Sunak sacked her in November after she wrote an article criticizing the Metropolitan Police for supporting pro-Palestinian marchers and failing to take a tougher stance on the protests.
The couple also clashed over legal and illegal migration policies, with Ms Braverman pushing for more radical measures including an annual cap on immigration.
Revised data released shortly after her departure showed net migration had risen to a record 745,000 in the year to December 2022, more than double pre-Brexit levels and a break with the Tories' 2019 manifesto pledge to reduce their numbers.
Speaking on the Panorama programme, which will be broadcast on BBC One on Monday, Ms Braverman said: “I think the Prime Minister did not necessarily intend that this is an important issue for the British.
“As Home Secretary, it was difficult for me to even have a meaningful conversation with him on this topic. I had to engage in written correspondence several times over a 12-month period to put forward policy proposals. But he refused to talk to me.
“We talked about boats every week, twice a week. We talked to each other a lot about police and security. On the issue of legal migration, I have not been able to get a hearing with the Prime Minister for 12 months.”
Number 10 has been contacted for comment. The BBC said it had contacted Downing Street about the comments on the programme, titled Immigration: UK's record growth, but had not received a response.
As well as Ms Koepka, Mrs Braverman and Robert Jenrick, the former immigration secretary called for the salary threshold required for a skilled worker to come to the UK to be raised from £26,200 to more than £40,000, and for the two-year graduate visa to be scrapped due to its use as a «back door». stay in the UK in a low-paid job.
James Cleverley, who replaced Ms Braverman as home secretary, announced a five-point plan to cut migration by 300,000 people, about a quarter of the 1.2 million people who arrived in Britain last year.
Measures included increasing the number of migrants. a threshold for skilled foreign workers of up to £38,700, a ban on foreign care workers from bringing in their relatives, in line with a similar limit for postgraduate students, and the scrapping of a scheme allowing companies to pay foreign staff 20 per cent below the going rate in regions with shortages.
Most Conservative MPs welcomed the tightening of net migration measures, as did Ms Braverman, but she also said the package was “too late and the Government could go further”.
In Monday the Ministry of Internal Affairs launched the program. a social media campaign in Vietnam with advertising on Facebook and YouTube to deter migrants from coming to the UK illegally.
The Home Office has launched social media campaigns in countries including Vietnam to deter migrants from arriving in the UK on small boats. Credit : Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
The adverts will «advertise the dangers of being indebted to and exploited by human smuggling gangs who profit from facilitating the passage of small boats.»
An increasing number of migrants are arriving in small boats from Southeast Asia. a country. According to the Home Office, Vietnam is among the top ten countries with the highest number of migrants crossing the English Channel illegally.
The campaign will also warn potential Vietnamese migrants about the “realities of living in the UK illegally, without the right to be in the UK and without access to government services or funding”, and use “real-life testimonies from those who regret coming to the UK illegally”. «.
In one advertisement, a migrant shares his experience of sleeping in a camp in Calais for five nights under the supervision of armed guards before traveling across the English Channel from France to the UK.
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A migrant called K, says: “Never again will I risk my life in a small boat, even if you bribe me.”
The campaign will also direct Vietnamese social media users to a website featuring videos of border officers describing “shocking incidents” and their experiences “rescuing migrants in small boats from life-threatening danger in the English Channel.”
< p>The Home Office said the launch followed «successful social media activity» in Albania, France and Belgium, adding that similar campaigns were «also being considered for other priority countries».
Mr Cleverley said: “This is a powerful campaign that demonstrates first-hand that the lives of people who arrived here illegally are far from the lies they are sold by gangs across the Channel.
“ Similar work last year has contributed to up to a 90 percent reduction in the number of small craft arrivals from Albania, and the overall number has dropped by a third, but there is still much to be done.
“Expanding our campaign to Vietnam is another key partner in our work to combat illegal migration — will help us save more lives and disrupt the business model of the criminals who profit from this vile trade.»
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