The two frontrunners to replace Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservative Party and to replace him in the House of Commons as leader of the opposition have focused on cutting immigration to Britain, including curbs on visas for Indians. But there has been a heated debate.
Ahead of the launch of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham on Sunday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick described India as one of the countries on which strict visa restrictions should be imposed across all categories, unless one comes to the UK illegally. Does not turn back its citizens who enter. ,
His closest contender, shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch, has also focused on the same issue and condemned new immigrants bringing their disputes from India for causing unrest on the country’s streets.
“It is quite clear that there are many people who have recently come to this country who have brought ideas from their country of origin that have no place here,” Badenoch told the BBC.
“I saw as Equalities Minister that people were bringing cultural disputes from India onto the streets of Leicester… We need to make sure that when people come to this country, they leave their past differences behind. It is not a controversial thing to say,” he said.
Nigerian-heritage Badenoch, considered one of the favorites to win the current Tory leadership election, was apparently referring to the clashes in Leicester in September 2022 in the wake of the India-Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match.
Meanwhile, his former ministerial colleague Robert Jenrick, who has gained an early lead in the competition, told ‘The Daily Telegraph’ earlier this week that while India benefited from 250,000 visas last year, an estimated 100,000 More than 100,000 were Indian citizens. Living in Britain illegally.
He lamented that hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in deportation or removal to India, despite the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership, which is designed to cover such returns of illegal immigrants.
Jenrick said, “The government must stop other countries taking advantage of our generosity by imposing severe visa restrictions and restricting foreign aid to countries that do not return their citizens here illegally.”
At the four-day Tory conference starting on Sunday, Jenrick and Badenoch will go head-to-head with two other party colleagues – former Cabinet ministers James Cleverley and Tom Tugendhat – as they bid for their leadership before MPs vote in the next round. do. This time the field will be narrowed down to a final two candidates who will contest the online poll of the wider Conservative Party membership, many of whom will make up their minds during the party conference. The new Conservative Party chief and opposition leader will be announced after voting closes on November 2.
The election follows Sunak’s resignation as Tory leader following the party’s crushing defeat in the general election under his leadership in July. The British Indian politician, who was re-elected Member of Parliament from Richmond and Northallerton in northern England, is serving as interim leader until his successor is elected.