'Rishi Sunak chooses to do the self-interested party politics': Shelagh Fogarty reflects on Tories' migration policies
18 January 2024, 15:02 | Updated: 18 January 2024, 15:14
After the Rwanda Bill passed its third reading in the House of Commons, Shelagh Fogarty stressed the importance of having a 'rational' conversation about immigration and understanding who is really coming to the UK.
Shelagh Fogarty said: "Instead of really addressing the numbers that we have legally, and asking ourselves why so many UK workers aren't fit to work in those jobs, or aren't interesting in working in those jobs (see wages for details), Rishi Sunak chooses instead to do the self-interested party politics.
"We can see it."
"We have to have the conversation rationally", she added. "Too often when people say they are concerned about immigration, whether it is illegal or not, they forget what's in that figure. A lot of the people in that figure are a solution to our problems, not an addition to our problems."
Net migration hit 745,000 in the year to December 2022, keeping levels at record highs.
Read more: Rwanda's president says there are 'limits for how long this can drag on'
"If pressure is on housing and services, why might that be? Might it be that this government hasn't built enough houses? Yes. Might it be that this government has worn down services to the bone, yes."
"Let's have that conversation day in and day out Rishi Sunak. Let's have that conversation every single day of the week", Shelagh continued.
"Let Lee Anderson wrestle with that one while the big boys in the Labour Party laugh at him", she added, referring to the ex-deputy chairman of Tory party explaining that he did not end up voting against the Rwanda Bill because he saw Labour MPs "giggling" at him.