Net migration should be slashed by 90 PER CENT, blasts top Tory MP
Tory MP Tom Hunt has called for a significant cut to levels of net migration
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Ipswich MP Tom Hunt warns migration is out of control in the UK
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A leading Tory has demanded the Government slash net migration by up to an eighth of its current level.
Tom Hunt said numbers that showed net migration - the total change in the population after people leaving are deducted - of 745,000 last year are "too high" and called for a nearly 90 per cent reduction.
He told GB News: "We stood on the manifesto in 2019. Net migration then was 220,000. And we said we would cut it from that point.
"I would like it to right down, probably around 100,000 maybe even lower."
Currently, the very high net migration figure means a city the size of Nottingham is added to the UK every 12 months.
Mr Hunt added: "I think there's a there's quite a few things I'm going on here.
"I think there's a lot of people who believed in Brexit who thought 'oh it's all about control, actually the public aren't that bothered about [migration] numbers. It's just about control'.
"Well it is about control. But it's about numbers as well."
In the rolling year to June net migration fell back slightly to 672,000, after nearly 1.2 million people came to live in the UK for at least a year but just 508,000 left.
Nearly all of those who arrived were from countries outside the European Union.
Students accounted for the largest group of non-EU migrants.
Mr Hunt went on: "Robert Jenrick [the former Immigration Minister] was talking a lot about getting the levers from Brexit to make these kind of decisions, but only now are we starting to pull those."
The Ipswich MP added: "Some people might point to the benefits [of immigration] in terms of GDP, but I'd question that.
"I think it should be more about GDP per capita, pressure on public services, social cohesion, all of those other issues as well should be taken into account."
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