Ms Badenoch issued an urgent correction this afternoon (Image: Getty)
Kemi Badenoch has insisted that her Conservative Party does recognise the previous government failed to deliver what voters want on immigration, after comments from Priti Patel raised eyebrows.
Earlier today the Shadow Foreign Secretary described her record as Home Secretary as “fantastic actually”, despite anger at ’s government for letting in more than 1.5 million foreigners in just a couple of years.
Ms Patel defended the “legal migration” figures following the pandemic, which largely contributed to the surge in popularity of Reform UK.
She insisted the migrants were the “brightest and the best”, and allows the government to control the numbers coming into the country depending on what the economy needs.
The top Tory denied misleading voters over promises made to control immigration during the referendum, asking those complaining whether they think the UK doesn’t require the health and social care workers who came to the country on newly issued visas.
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The Conservative Party are proud of their disastrous record on immigration — and would do it again. Please share this video far and wide.
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage)
However both Labour and Reform UK leapt on the comments, with a Labour spokesman saying it proves the “are totally out of touch with reality”.
“Priti Patel has refused to apologise for record high net migration under the . Instead, she seems proud of her central role in the Tory open border experiment.
“The Conservative Party is clearly in disarray. They have no plan for Britain and no contrition for the state they left this country in.”
Meanwhile called on his social media followers to “share this video far and wide”, claiming it proves the will repeat their “disastrous record on immigration” if they win again.
In a rare intervention, Ms Badenoch herself was forced to issue a correction this afternoon, insisting her Conservative Party does recognise the failures of their previous time in office.
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Ms Patel insisted her record on immigration is defensible (Image: The Sun)
A spokesman for the Tory leader said: “As Kemi said when she committed to a hard cap on visas in November, under her leadership the Conservative Party will tell the truth about the mistakes we made.
“While the last Conservative government may have tried to control numbers, we did not deliver.
“We are now developing a detailed plan on immigration to put before the British public before the next election, so voters have a clear choice: Labour, who will keep immigration far too high; or a new plan and a hard cap on numbers with Kemi’s .”
Ms Patel launched the new points-based system for immigration in February 2020, the month after Britain finally left the EU.
However during her time in office net migration hit a staggering 745,000 in 2022.
When running for Tory leader last year, Ms Badenoch insisted that: “On my watch from 2019 onwards we delivered the structural reforms to the immigration and asylum system.
“That was the introduction of a points-based immigration system which effectively means that the government of the day has the levers to control who comes into our country and who does not come into our country. And that includes numbers.”