Rebel Tory Suella Braverman stepped up her war on Rishi Sunak today as a series of allegations about a secret deal to tackle record migration emerged.
Mrs Braverman, who was finally sacked as Home Secretary a fortnight ago, claimed she struck a deal with Mr Sunak when he was bidding to become Prime Minister last autumn. She insisted he agreed to hike the salary threshold for migrant workers to £40,000 as part of a leadership contest pact.
The pair agreed a "four-point migration plan" in return for her backing him to become party boss, according to The Daily Telegraph. The claim comes after the former Home Secretary used a scathing letter following her sacking to reveal she reached an agreement with Mr Sunak last year that saw her agree to serve in his Cabinet because of "firm assurances" he gave her "on key policy priorities".
She said they included a commitment to reduce net migration into Britain and efforts to tackle international blocks on deporting migrants who arrive across the English Channel via small boats. Sources close to Mrs Braverman said that, while not signed by Mr Sunak, the deal was verbally agreed on several occasions and that he left a meeting with a physical copy of a document, the Telegraph reported.
In her letter, Mrs Braverman told Mr Sunak: "Our deal was no mere promise over dinner, to be discarded when convenient and denied when challenged."
Rishi Sunak must be a leader, not just a manager
Speaking as he arrived at a Global Investment Summit at Hampton Court Palace, South West London, the PM said today: "I'm very clear that the levels of net migration are too high, they need to come down to more sustainable levels."
He added: "We need to do more. I've already taken action to tighten the number of dependants that students can bring when they come and study here. We have seen a very sharp rise in those numbers - and that measure that I took represents the ingle biggest measure to bring down legal migration that anyone's ever taken.
"Of course, as we need to do more we'll look at that and where there are abuses of the system we will of course act on it because the levels do need to come down, they are too high."
The PM earlier played down the claim that Mrs Braverman had struck a deal with him last year.
"Of course you have conversations with people when you are in a leadership election and not just Suella," Mr Sunak told the Mail on Sunday. Asked about whether she could produce proof of a deal, he said: "That's a question for her. I'm getting on with actually delivering things." Downing Street earlier this month rejected the former Home Secretary's "characterisation" of a secret pact allegedly being reached, but did confirm the pair had been discussing policy prior to her appointment.
Net migration peaked at 745,000 in the year to December 2022, according to revised estimates published by the Office for National Statistics. The data places migration levels at three times higher than before Brexit.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is understood to have worked up a plan designed to appease calls from right-wing Tories for the Government to take action. Mrs Braverman's replacement as Home Secretary, James Cleverly, is expected to give a statement on net migration levels when he takes questions in the Commons this afternoon.
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