THE TWO leading candidates in the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative Party leader and become the opposition leader in parliament have focused their campaigns on cutting immigration, with particular attention on Indian visas.
As the Conservative Party conference kicked off in Birmingham on Sunday, former immigration minister Robert Jenrick called for tougher visa restrictions on India unless the country takes back its nationals who have entered the UK illegally.
His closest rival, shadow housing secretary Kemi Badenoch, also emphasised immigration, condemning new migrants for bringing conflicts from India that have caused unrest on British streets.
“There are many people who have recently come to this country who have brought views from their countries of origin that have no place here,” Badenoch said in an interview with the BBC.
“As equalities minister, I saw people bringing cultural disputes from India to the streets of Leicester. We need to make sure that when people come to this country, they leave their previous differences behind. This is not a controversial thing to say,” she added.
Badenoch’s comments appeared to refer to the clashes that erupted in Leicester in September 2022 following an India-Pakistan cricket match.
Meanwhile, Jenrick, who has taken an early lead in the contest, highlighted in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that while 250,000 visas were issued to Indians in the past year, approximately 100,000 Indian nationals are estimated to be living illegally in the UK.
Jenrick also criticised the low number of deportations to India, despite an existing India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership designed to facilitate the return of illegal migrants.
“The government must stop other countries from exploiting our generosity by imposing severe visa restrictions and cutting foreign aid to those who do not take back their nationals,” he said.
During the four-day Tory conference, Jenrick and Badenoch will compete against former Cabinet ministers James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat. The final two candidates will be decided by MPs in the next voting round, after which Conservative Party members will cast an online ballot to choose the winner. The result will be announced on 2 November.
The leadership election follows Sunak’s resignation as Conservative leader after the party’s defeat in the general election in July. He continues to serve as interim leader until his successor is elected.
(With inputs from agencies)
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