Rishi Sunak was under renewed pressure as projections put net migration on course to swell the UK by more than six million people by the middle of the next decade.
The Prime Minister’s critics on the Conservative right urged him to act after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the population could reach nearly 74 million by 2036.
Some 92% of the 6.6 million projected growth – or 6.1 million people – was attributed to migration in the research based on current and past trends.
Downing Street insisted Mr Sunak wants net migration to “come down quickly” but was not backing a call from former home secretary Suella Braverman to introduce a cap on numbers.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said that migration levels are “too high” and that “we must get back to sustainable levels” as he detailed a raft of new restrictions.
The ONS cautioned that policy changes and the “impact of as yet unknown migrant behavioural patterns” will affect population levels.
But the figures suggest that the UK population could hit 70 million by mid-2026 – a decade sooner than in figures published in 2022, which projected a date of mid-2036.
Mrs Braverman, the sacked home secretary who is seen as a potential challenger to Mr Sunak, argued that the “numbers are too high, placing pressure on schools, the NHS and housing”.
“Recent Government measures will help a bit but they’re very late,” she wrote on social media.
“We need a cap on overall numbers so we can hold Government to account and fix this problem.”
Robert Jenrick, who quit as immigration minister alleging Mr Sunak’s Rwanda policy does not go far enough, said the population growth will “deepen the housing crisis”.
“There is no democratic consent for this outcome. This pace of change is far too fast,” he said.
“After leaving the EU the power to change this, and set us on course for far more sustainable numbers, is in Parliament’s hands.”
I campaigned for Brexit to reduce migration.
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) January 30, 2024
These numbers are too high, placing pressure on schools, the NHS & housing.
Recent government measures will help a bit but they’re very late.
We need a cap on overall numbers so we can hold government to account & fix this problem https://t.co/v4mm18ohHM
Downing Street sought to appear on the front foot in efforts to bring migration down but chose not to back Mrs Braverman’s call for a cap.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “We’ve set out the biggest ever reduction in legal migration, we retain the ability to go further. We do think it is something that the public wants us to do.
“The Prime Minister is certainly of the view that legal migration has been too high – it must come down, and it must come down quickly.”
1/ The @ONS forecast that 92% of our population growth (2021-36) will come from immigration. That’s not how you create a united country.
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) January 30, 2024
From 2028 they forecast net migration at 315,000. This will only deepen the housing crisis. https://t.co/V4trUiaIZ8
Mr Cleverly added some fresh details to already announced plans were aimed at bringing down levels.
