UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman will speak at a three-day event. (AFP File Photo)
Suella Braverman, the home secretary of the UK, is due to speak at a Conservative press conference on Monday where she will propose that more people of the country should be trained as lorry drivers, fruit pickers and butchers so that they don’t have to rely on foreign workers, according to the BBC. The Conservative Party leader will also argue that it is “not racist” to want to control borders, the outlet further said. His party was elected on a promise to cut net migration, but it has instead hit a record.
As per the BBC, the Conservatives had promised to bring down the number of migrants to below 100,000 in a year. But this year, it is expected to hit a record of 700,000.
“There is no good reason why we can’t train up enough HGV drivers, butchers or fruit pickers,” according to excerpt of the speech released by the BBC.
Ms Braverman will also say that “we must not forget how to do things for ourselves”.
“It’s not xenophobic to say that mass and rapid migration is unsustainable in terms of housing supply, service and community relations,” she is expected to say in her speech.
Her speech is being seen as a warning to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to act on his promise of cutting immigration.
Some Conservative leaders have said that it is needed in the long run for the welfare of the country.
“In the long term, we need immigration to come down because that’s what has been causing some challenges in local areas for a long period of time,” Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Ms Braverman’s comments at the National Conservativism Conference will come days after Rishi Sunak’s party lost nearly 1,000 councillors at local elections.
At the three-day conference, she is expected to emphasises that there is a need to reduce the overall immigration numbers – “the 2019 manifesto pledge and what we must deliver”, as per Independent.
The home secretary will tell the National Conservatism conference Brexit enables a high-skilled, high wage economy to be built “that is less dependent on low-skilled foreign labour”.