Rishi Sunak’s new year resolution? To call his right wing’s bluff

After overpromising on ‘stopping the boats’, the prime minister has now rowed back on a key detail of his immigration policy – now, he has no choice but to take on his right-wingers and strong-arm them into supporting his Rwanda scheme, says Andrew Grice

Sunak’s shifting position on legal migration tells us how he intends to outmanoeuvre hardline critics in his own party (PA Wire)

The government’s climbdown over its plan to increase to £38,700 the income required for a UK citizen to bring a foreign partner or spouse to the country is more revealing than ministers acknowledge. Although Rishi Sunak won’t admit it, I think he has given us a sneak preview of his new year’s resolution: to take on his right-wing critics.

The new £29,000 threshold, smuggled out without fanfare last night while parliament is in recess, is welcome and thankfully will not be retrospective when people already in the UK renew visas. But from April, there will still be an increase from the current £18,600 figure, and more than half the population will be excluded from sponsoring a foreign spouse or partner, according to Reunite Families UK.

The U-turn follows a backlash against an “unconservative” move by the so-called “party of the family,” which was rightly accused of punishing people for the crime of falling in love. But I don’t think the change was due to an outbreak of peace and goodwill; it also reflects fears the government would lose a legal challenge over its original plan for not upholding family rights. Downing Street had brushed aside such fears when it formed part of a crackdown to cut net migration by 300,000 after Tory MPs were spooked by a rise to a record 745,000 in 2022.