Rebellious Conservative think tank urges Theresa May to SCRAP migration cap promise
A CONSERVATIVE think tank backed by 140 Tory MPs and peers has turned on Theresa May’s pledge top cut net migration to below 100,000.
Amber Rudd dodges immigration target question in live interview
The group of liberal Conservatives, known as Bright Blue, have urged the Prime Minister to drop the pledge from the Party’s election manifesto, which is due to be released next week.
The think tank is supported by Michael Gove, Jeremy Hunt, Sajid Javid, although insiders have insisted not all its members back their policy proposals.
And its advisory board includes the Prime Minister’s Number 10 policy board chair, George Freeman, and Work and Pensions secretary Damian Green.
The push to end the migration cap will come as a blow to Mrs May
The push to end the migration cap will come as a blow to Mrs May, who doubled down on her commitment to maintain the goal after David Davis said numbers may have to rise "from time to time" last month.
A party insider said: “A lot of people, including ministers, are saying the manifesto is an opportunity to replace the target with a promise to ensure a sustainable level of net migration.
“But the person at the top wants to keep it.”
The group have urged the Prime Minister to drop the pledge from the Party’s election manifesto
It comes as the Prime Minister steps up to set out her vision in the party manifesto
David Cameron’s director of strategy, Steve Hilton, has claimed the former Prime Minister set Mrs May “an almost impossible task” by urging her to pursue the target when she served in the Home Office.
Writing in the think tank’s magazine, he added: ““That's why she was always looking for ways to restrict immigration, however beneficial the immigration might have actually been in the long term, for example in relation to entrepreneurs.”
The former Prime Ministerial aide claimed he did not back Mrs May’s current approach to reducing net migration figures, arguing it should “be based on a notion of quality, not quantity”.
The PM campaigned for a migration cap during her time in the Home Office
James Dobson, a researcher for the group, told the Independent: “The Prime Minister should abandon the arbitrary, indiscriminate and unachievable net migration target.
“The public of course still want migration to be controlled.
“This could be better done by introducing new targets – both on gross numbers and the effectiveness of the visa process – for the main different types of migrants: workers, spouses, students, and refugees and asylum applicants.
“If the PM is not prepared to do this, she should, at the very least, remove international students from contributing to the net migration target.”