In the 2010 Tory manifesto, the party vowed to reduce net migration to below 100,000:
“Immigration has enriched our nation over the years and we want to attract the brightest and the best people who can make a real difference to our economic growth. but immigration today is too high and needs to be reduced. We do not need to attract people to do jobs that could be carried out by british citizens, given the right training and support. So we will take steps to take net migration back to the levels of the 1990s – tens of thousands a year, not hundreds of thousands.”
Today’s ONS figures show net migration has risen by 56,000, hitting a total of 212,000 for the last year. You don’t need to change the axes on the graph below to show the Tories have failed to keep their pledge:
This is what you get for making promises about something you can’t really control…