Sophy Ridge skewered health secretary Victoria Atkins over the 14 years the Conservatives have been promising – and failing – to reduce migration.
The Sky News presenter pointed out that not only is that pledge unfulfilled, but migration numbers have only increased.
Ridge began: “I’m old enough to remember Cameron promised it was going to be tens of thousands [coming into the country].
“How’s that pledge going?”
The former PM and current foreign secretary said in 2010 that a net migration of 200,000 was too much – it is now three times that number.
Rishi Sunak has now pledged to introduce a cap on the number of visas offered to migrants if he wins the election – although Labour said this pledge was the party “rehashing failed announcements”.
On Sky, Atkins replied: “So the last year or so, again, viewers will remember, not only did the Great British public open their arms to people fleeing the war in Ukraine and we had a huge number –”
“685,000 people? That’s more than I realised!” Ridge cut in, referencing the net migration of 2023.
Atkins angrily replied: “No, Sophy, please don’t.”
She pointed her finger at the camera briefly, before resuming: “Please let me finish the answer because it’s a number of factors.
“So we opened our arms to people from Ukraine.
“We also opened our arms to people fleeing Hong Kong with all of the human rights and difficulties issues and difficulties that there are in Hong Kong of course we also welcomed Afghans.”
The share of overall “humanitarian” arrivals – referring to the bespoke routes for Ukrainians and Hong Kong British nationals – fell by the end of 2023 down to 50,000.
Atkins praised the health and social care visas, too, which she claimed helped attract the “brightest and best”.
Applications for health and social care worker visas fell by 76% year on year in the first four months of 2024 compared to 2023, dropping from 50,900 to 12,400.
Still, Atkins claimed: “The UK is an incredibly respected and popular country. Forget all the misery that you hear from Labour.
“Around the world, our country is viewed with great fondness and people want to come and work in our NHS.”