Make it harder to get British citizenship, urges Kemi Badenoch

Speaking to the BBC, Badenoch said the current rules had created a “conveyor belt” to citizenship for those who had just arrived in the country.

She argued too many people were getting citizenship through this route and that was “creating a strain on public services”.

“We need to make sure that people coming here have a real, meaningful connection to the UK, so no criminal records, they should be net contributors to the economy, not relying on benefits but people who care about our country and our communities.”

She said she believed the policy would bring numbers down but would not say by how much.

Last year, shortly after becoming leader, Badenoch said her party had got it “wrong” on immigration during its time in government, which saw net migration rise to a record high of 906,000.

She has said there should be a hard cap on migration but declined to say what the cap should be, arguing it would depend on the situation at any given time.

Asked if she was panicking because of the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, Badenoch said her party “needed to rebuild trust with the public” and that it was natural for the public to look to “the protest party”.