Bright Blue, the independent think tank for liberal conservatives, is calling for the Government to give more money to local areas to help them cope with higher numbers if the net migration target is not met.

Bright Blue’s Director, Ryan Shorthouse, said: 

"It is not acceptable for the Government to repeatedly fail to meet its net migration target without facing serious consequences. Government should have to give more money to local areas - through the new Controlling Migration Fund - when it fails to meet its migration target, so communities can cope with higher numbers. 

This financial penalty will, hopefully, make government reconsider its current net migration target - which is arbitrary, indiscriminate and undeliverable. Government needs to initiate a public consultation to develop new targets on immigration that are realistic and properly shaped by public attitudes.”

In its recent report A manifesto for immigration, Bright Blue called for major reforms to the Government's immigration policies. This included: abandoning the net migration target and replacing with new, deliverable targets such as on gross non-EU migration; and, if the government's target are not met, then they should have to increase the amount of money in the Controlling Immigration Fund, so local areas are given the necessary resources to cope with higher levels of migration.