Tory Danny Kruger slams own party saying Conservatives have broken every manifesto pledge on migration over 14 years

4 June 2024, 08:01

By Natasha Clark

@NatashaC

A Tory candidate has been caught slamming his own party's failure to cut migration, in a secret recording passed to LBC.

Former Tory MP Danny Kruger, who is running again for election, ripped into the Government's record on migration, saying "migration has risen every single time" the Conservatives pledged to reduce it.

It comes as the Tories promise today an annual cap on migration set by Parliament in a bid to cut the numbers.

Mr Kruger told people at a meeting in March when grilled by a furious resident: "I know what you mean".

He told local party members that “every single manifesto the Conservatives stood on... have all promised to reduce migration, and migration has risen every single time.”

When questioned by a local party member on why the Conservatives should be trusted to bring net migration down, he said he had “nothing to say” in response.

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Mr Kruger hit out at several PMs for making big promises and failing to deliver, highlighting that “Cameron promised to reduce it to below 100,000, and we're now at 750,000.

"We promised - the manifesto I stood on in 2019 - promised to reduce it from where it was, which was 220,000. Boris just said that we will reduce migration, but in fact, we have massively increased it.”

One member of the audience said: “So why should we trust you when you say that? I mean... in the last manifesto is that you would reduce immigration.

"But there you are saying 1.2 million in total, 715,000 coming legally, and you're going to reduce it to 300 or whatever it is. Why do we need that? And why do you break your promises? Why should we trust you, the Conservatives, again?”

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Mr Kruger replied: “I'm so sorry, sir, you're completely right. I've got nothing to say other than I know what you mean.

"Every single manifesto the Conservatives stood on, and there's been how many elections since 2010? They've all promised to reduce migration, and migration has risen every single time.

"And Cameron promised to reduce it to below 100,000, and we're now at 750,000. We promised - the manifesto I stood on in 2019 - promised to reduce it from where it was, which was 220,000. Boris just said that we will reduce migration, but in fact, we have massively increased it.”

Responding to the LBC exclusive, Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "We've got to remember, for most of those elections, we were a member of the EU and couldn't properly control our borders, that's one of the reasons we voted to leave.

"Since 2019 we've had some unprecedented circumstances, Covid, a lot of people left the UK... We have a plan to bring it down."

The Tories today are vowing a new cap on migration if they win the next election, which would be decided by MPs and the Migration Advisory Committee.

Net Migration soared last year to a record high of more than three quarters of a million - but has dropped slightly since.

Experts think the numbers will fall in the coming months.

A friend of Mr Kruger told LBC: “These comments are many months old, were reported by the Telegraph at the time, and are not dissimilar to what Danny has been saying publicly before and since."