Planet Normal: PM ‘wasn’t interested’ in discussing migration, says Suella Braverman
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“The 2019 manifesto made a pledge to lower net migration and yet we were moving in precisely the opposite direction. So I was very frustrated in 2022 about what had gone on previously and, this was a condition of my support for the Prime Minister. But as time went on, it became apparent that he wasn’t really interested in this subject. It took me about a year to even get a face to face meeting with him”
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson speak to former Home Secretary Suella Braverman who shares her thoughts on whether or not she thinks the Rwanda Bill will ‘stop the boats,’ the “scramble for the centre ground” and Sir Mark Rowley’s future at the Metropolitan Police.
“In the end, under duress I would say, he [Rishi Sunak] did ultimately announce some measures at the end of last year, but only after unprecedented levels of net migration... There’s an institutional view in Whitehall, that more migration is better for the economy, universities, the NHS, and it’s better for our Ccountry. There’s no acknowledgment whatsoever, within the Treasury or within government, about the costs of migration, about the impacts on our resources like schools and housing or on the impacts on social and cultural cohesion. And I think that’s why the British people have voted time and time again to lower migration. And it has been a failure of government to deliver on that promise so far.”
When asked if Sunak’s low personal ratings could see a new leader ahead of a general election, Braverman says she would rather see a shift in policy - away from a crowded centre ground.
“I think we need to change the policies. And at the moment, I think what’s very interesting about British politics is that there’s a real scramble for the centre ground... and in our desire to be so centrist and what I would say Cameroon, and adopt the formula of 2015 or 2010, we’ve made ourselves more indistinguishable from Labour when it comes to taxation or migration, for example... we’ve shifted to the left of British politics as a party. We need to shift to the right if we’re going to regain those voters who’ve become disillusioned with the Conservative Party, who are now thinking about voting for Reform or not voting at all.”
Listen to Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble, using the audio player above or subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app
