Posted on March 13, 2012

David Cameron Told ‘Toughen Migration Policies’

Macer Hall, Express (London), March 13, 2012

David Cameron is facing growing Tory discontent over the Coalition’s failure to cut immigration significantly.

A senior Tory backbencher raised fears that Britain may be forced to accept a fresh wave of migrant workers from the European Union unless border controls are toughened.

Mark Pritchard, secretary of the 1922 Committee of Tory MPs, said more steps should be taken to achieve the Conservative pledge to curb the influx.

He claimed yesterday: “There’s a lot of tough talk on immigration, but not enough is being done to bring down numbers.”

He said little was being done to tackle “rampant abuse of family, work, and tourist visas” and that visas given non-EU citizens coming to Britain with EU relatives were “misused and misapplied on an industrial scale”.

Mr Pritchard feared rising unemployment across the EU could trigger a fresh wave of migration to Britain.

Yesterday contributors to leading Tory website ConservativeHome blamed the Lib Dems for blocking tighter border controls.

They called for tougher policies in the drive to win an outright majority at the next election.