Immigration policy must change, says Liam Fox

Writing in the Telegraph, Liam Fox says Tories must change policy on immigration to win back voters from the UK Independence Party

Immigration: the level of educated migrants is well above the 31 per cent average in developed countries.
Without a “clearer narrative” on immigration, the Conservatives would not win back enough voters from Ukip to achieve a Commons majority, Liam Fox warned Credit: Photo: PA

David Cameron must ditch the “statistical nonsense” of his immigration policy and adopt a radical plan to reduce the number of migrants moving to Britain if he is to win back voters from the UK Independence Party, a former Cabinet minister says today.

Liam Fox, a former defence secretary, warns that the Prime Minister will be guilty of “dangerous complacency” if he dismisses the threat to the Conservatives from Ukip.

He said that Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, was “personable and reasonable” and that many of his views were shared by “decent and patriotic people”.

Writing in The Sunday Telegraph today, Dr Fox, the standard-bearer for Eurosceptic Conservatives, urged Mr Cameron to show voters a “positive vision” for Britain or risk defeat to Labour in next year’s general election.

The Tories should abandon their target to cut “net migration”, and concentrate on reducing the number of low-skilled migrants and addressing public concern over the impact of immigration on schools and health services, he said.

Without a “clearer narrative” on immigration, the Conservatives would not win back enough voters from Ukip to achieve a Commons majority, he warned.

The Tory leadership has privately conceded that Mr Cameron has no hope of winning more seats than Mr Farage in the European Parliament elections in May.

Many inside the party also fear that there is no chance of Mr Cameron now delivering on his promise to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands”, after figures showed the number of immigrants rose last year.

Dr Fox made the comments as a leaked letter emerged in which the leader of 34 Tory councillors in Guildford accused Mr Cameron of undermining the party’s chances of winning the next election.

Stephen Mansbridge told Mr Cameron that the Tories were being “placed in an impossible electoral position through your government’s policies”. The letter was backed by councillors and was being passed to No 10 by Anne Milton, a local MP and government whip.

At the same time, Eurosceptic MPs warned that the Prime Minister’s “vacillation and procrastination” on whether to adopt a tougher anti-European policy would allow Ukip to take votes from Tories.

Bill Cash, who chairs the Commons EU scrutiny committee, said this could cost the party “50 or 60 marginal seats”.

Dr Fox, who was Mr Cameron’s first defence secretary, issued his strongest warning yet to the Prime Minister that a radical change of direction was needed.

He said that “current betting” suggested that Ukip were favourites in the European polls on May 22.

“If they do well, many will point to the successes of previous minor parties that did well in the Euro elections only to fail at the next general election. This could be dangerous complacency, especially for the Tories,” he said.

The Tory response must not be to attempt to outflank Ukip from the Right, the former Cabinet minister writes.

“The correct response is to set out a positive vision, clear philosophy, and definable objectives,” Dr Fox said.

In particular, he calls for a radical new policy on immigration, moving away from the party pledge to cut net migration to the tens of thousands by next year, which looks ever more impossible to meet.

Figures last week showed that net migration rose by 58,000 to 212,000 in the 12 months to last September, with the increase due to more workers from the EU.

Dr Fox said Tories should win back voters who have switched allegiance by pointing out the “unavoidable consequences” of a vote for Ukip.

“If the Tories are to bring back enough of these voters to win an overall majority at the election, then there needs to be a clearer narrative on immigration, stressing not only the need to restrict numbers, but also to determine which individuals, with what skills, enter our country.

“While Conservative policy has concentrated on getting down the net migration numbers, it is actual numbers that affect school places, housing and health. The Conservatives must ditch this statistical nonsense.”

In what will be seen as a coded criticism of the Prime Minister and his allies, Dr Fox calls for an end to the “name-calling” and the accusations that Ukip activists are “cranks” or “crackpots”.

Mr Cameron famously described Ukip as a party of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”.

Mr Cameron is also facing growing concern over the rise of Ukip from grass-roots activists outside Westminster.

In a letter to him, the leader of Guildford council said he feared the borough would lose its Tory majority for the first time in 12 years and that Mrs Milton would be defeated at the election.

Stephen Mansbridge said there was huge local opposition to the “excessive number of new homes” being forced on the area’s green belt by government policy.

“We have lost many Conservative party members — indeed whole branches of the local association — due to various government policies, and Ukip won over 20 per cent of the vote in the local elections last year in Surrey,” he said. “Immigration, the EU and gay marriage are frequently given as reasons for this.”

The Conservatives’ manifesto for the European polls will be largely a restatement of existing plans, including the promise of a referendum in 2017 on Britain’s membership of the EU.

The party has shelved plans to make reform of human-rights law the centrepiece of the European election campaign because senior figures regard this as a waste of a potentially popular reform.