A group of Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom has launched an alternative Conservative manifesto urging Rishi Sunak to slash migration figures by around 400,000 before the next election.

The new Conservative group, which was set up in May by a number of Conservative MPs, including Miriam Cates, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Jonathan Gullis, Danny Kruger and Lia Nici, has issued a 12-point plan to cut net migration to the UK.

The launch of the report, which took place in Westminster on Tuesday, will heap huge pressure on the Prime Minister, who is also under fire over illegal migration and the Rwanda deportation scheme.

Among the ideas in the report are the removal of visas for tens of thousands of care workers, and raising the skilled work visa salary threshold – designed to reduce the amount of low-paid, unskilled labour – to £38,000.

The report also recommends ending the right of graduate students to stay in the UK for up to two years after the end of their course without a job offer, and for student visas to be “reserved for the brightest” by making only the top universities eligible.

Other measures would be to cap the amount of social housing that local authorities can provide to non-UK nationals as five per cent of the total, and to increase the immigration health surcharge to £2,700 per person per year.

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This proposal came barely two months after the UK government banned foreign students studying for master’s degrees, including Nigerians, from bringing their family members to the United Kingdom.

Nigeria had the highest number of dependants (60,923) sponsored study visa holders in 2022, while India had the second highest number of dependants (38,990).

The plan, which was written by Tory MP Tom Hunt, claims Brits did not vote for mass migration, and without “swift action” the Tory party will “further erode the trust” of scores of 2019 voters.

The report says withdrawing right of entry under the Health and Care Worker scheme would cut the numbers of immigrants to Britain by 82,000.

The report recommends a maximum of 20,000 refugees would be accepted for resettlement and it also suggests caps on future humanitarian schemes such as the Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong schemes should a predicted reduction of 168,000 migrants not be realised.

The group advocated raising the income threshold to £26,200 for sponsoring a spouse to come to the UK and would increase the language requirement.

However, senior Tory MP Robin Walker, a former education minister, told The Independent that the group’s proposals for student visas were “a non-starter”.

“You cannot differentiate between the grades of university, we do not with the fees system and it would be very unfair to suddenly introduce that for immigration purposes,” Walker said.

He said restrictions on student visas was “not a realistic approach”, adding that overseas students “do tend to go home, do tend to benefit our university system and bring valuable funding with them”, adding: “I don’t see the argument for trying to restrict their numbers per se.”

THE 12-POINT PLAN

*Close temporary schemes that grant eligibility for worker visas to ‘care workers’ and ‘senior care workers’ to cut numbers by 82,000.

*Raise the main skilled work visa salary threshold to £38,000 a year to cut numbers by 54,000.

*Expand ban on students bringing family to UK from postgraduates to masters students to cut numbers by 75,000.

*Remove right for graduate students to stay in the UK for two years after their course ends, to cut numbers by 50,000

*Reserve university Study Visas for the brightest international students and exclude the worst universities from eligibility, to cut numbers by 49,000.

*Introduce cap on future humanitarian schemes should the predicted 168,000 reductions not be realised.

*Rapidly pass and implement the provisions of the Illegal Migration Bill to cut numbers by 35,000.

*Cap the number of refugees legally accepted for resettlement in the UK at 20,000.

*Raise the minimum combined income threshold to £26,200 for sponsoring a spouse and raise the minimum language requirement to B1 (intermediate level), to cut numbers by 20,000.

*Make the Migration Advisory Committee report on the effect of migration on housing and public services, not just the jobs market.

*Cap the amount of social housing that Councils can give to non-UK nationals at five per cent until the number of British families waiting for housing clears.

*Raise the Immigration Health Surcharge to £2,700 per person, per year

The Star