Mel Stride said the Government will cut net migration “dramatically” as he prepares to use a speech later today to urge businesses to hire unemployed Britons instead of foreign workers. 

The Work and Pensions Secretary will pledge to “put right” decades of overdependence on imported labour as part of plans to slash net migration by 300,000 a year.

Asked about the plans this morning, Mr Stride told Times Radio: “We have a situation in our country, as we know, we have had very high net migration up at over 600,000 and the Government is absolutely determined to reduce that quite dramatically and in fact all the forecasts are that it will fall away by a very significant amount, probably around 300,000 people. 

“We know that we have areas of the labour market that are very tight and have relied on that migrant labour in the past. 
“What I am setting out today is a big and bold ambitious plan which is about firstly using our back to work plan which is a £2.5 billion investment in getting people into jobs through better training, better support, the use of job centres and all the tools that they have, how we focus that in an enhanced way on those sectors. 

“Also looking at how, as with HGV drivers actually in 2021 where we made a number of changes and interventions in that labour market that freed up supply… working with the businesses in those sectors through roundtables etc… to go through the changes that we can make, once again to increase supply into exactly those areas like social care, hospitality, construction, manufacturing and so on. 

“And finally, later on this morning in a speech I will be setting out a major national awareness campaign that will go around this so we can better engage with those employers to drive up the opportunities there are now to unlock that talent that is out there right up and down our country, to do those jobs, domestic jobs, for our domestic labour market.”