A group of backbench Conservative MPs is putting pressure on Rishi Sunak to further reduce immigration tied to the UK’s higher education sector.
The “New Conservatives”, a group of “Red Wall” parliamentarians, published a report on 3 July which calls on the prime minister to take action to drastically reduce immigration, arguing that this is key to fulfilling the promises made in the party’s 2019 manifesto.
The report, by Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, says that international students should be barred from attending the “poorest performing universities”, that post-study work visas should be scrapped, and that new restrictions on the students who can bring dependants with them to the UK should be extended.
“Our immigration policy should not be used to prop up the finances of underperforming universities. As the home secretary has previously observed, allowing international students to bring in ‘family members who can piggyback on to their student visa’ aids ‘propping up, frankly, substandard courses in inadequate institutions’,” the report says.
