Rishi Sunak could avoid immigration backlash if he stopped pretending more arrivals is bad

Immigration numbers aren’t coming down, and Rishi Sunak is in trouble

Having repeatedly vowed to bring down net migration, the Prime Minister has instead watched it soar, reaching a record 745,000 arrivals last year.

Mr Sunak was quick to condemn the figures, as was his Home Secretary, insisting the number would come down, and they just needed time, which suggests he’s either totally deluded or just doubling down on a lie.

Just like David Cameron, Theresa May, and Boris Johnson, Mr Sunak is promising something he cannot deliver, and in doing so creating a rod for his own back.

The £180 million Rwanda scheme is not going to happen, pledging to “stop the boats” does not actually stop the boats, and rhetoric isn’t the same as a long-term plan. With this latest failure, Mr Sunak is facing a furious backlash from right-wing MPs, the right-wing media, and even the Labour party, who these days can’t see a policy without outflanking it.

He’s running low on support, and out of ideas, but luckily for him, I’ve got the solution. It’s simple, easy, and relies on data rather than rhetoric. The Prime Minister can end his immigration headache immediately if he simply tells the truth. High immigration is good, actually.

That’s not just my liberal elite view, but that of the public as well. Earlier this year, the European Social Survey, which has sampled attitudes every two years since 2001, said British views on immigration and its economic and cultural impact had undergone “a complete about-turn” over the past two decades.Their latest survey found a majority of respondents thought immigration was very positive for the UK economy, enriched the country’s cultural life and made the country a better place to live. Instead of apologising for people coming here, Mr Sunak could just celebrate it.

Away from daft stuff like how the public feel, the data is also in favour of immigration. There is no indicator immigrants are a burden on the benefits system, indeed all metrics suggest they boost the economy, rather than make it smaller – unlike Liz Truss. If there are concerns over housing, maybe finally build more.

Then there’s the NHS, something ministers were all too happy to clap for, but perhaps with only 80 per cent enthusiasm to make up for the 20 per cent of staff who weren’t born in Britain.

There is, of course, a difference with asylum seekers risking their lives to come here on boats, with the annual cost being £3 billion. But even that isn’t being handled properly.

The government argues that the high volume of small boat arrivals has led to the increasing backlog of asylum claims but, in truth, the backlogs predates them. As the UK in a Changing Europe think tank points out, the backlog is actually down to the Home Office failing to process applications.

Ministers can keep painting over murals designed to welcome child asylum seekers, or block charities having access to offer them care, but none of that will reduce the numbers, it’s just cruelty for optics sake. Looking mean, when the real issue is the Home Office being unfit for purpose.

Immigration is undeniably good for this country and, if the Prime Minister acted in Britain’s interests, he would say so.