Brexit gave Britain the power to control its borders, but successive governments have “wilfully failed to use it”, according to a scathing analysis by Migration Watch. A new report to mark the 10th anniversary of the vote to leave the EU says that when it comes to enacting policy, “the post-Brexit era has been an unmitigated failure”.

Although free movement of EU nationals ended on December 31, 2020, when the UK left the bloc, “net migration reached 745,000 in 2022”.

The report blasts the post-Brexit immigration system for being “designed in 2021 without a cap, without a resident labour market test, and with a reduced skill threshold”. It takes governments to task for not imposing a “binding numerical cap on total immigration”, claiming this hands control to “employers and educational institutions who determine demand for sponsored visas”.

Insisting that such a cap is “absolutely necessary”, the report concludes: “It may be that, at each election, the British public decide that the current cap is not working, and should be lowered or raised, but it is the only way that the democratic principle of sovereignty that defined the Leave vote, and Brexit was an opportunity to revive, can be respected.”

Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration Watch, said: “Brexit delivered what the British public had demanded for years: the power to control our borders. Since 2016, successive governments have wilfully failed to use it.

“Although free movement ended, immigration surged because the post-Brexit points-based system was deliberately loosened at the behest of employers, universities, migrant rights groups and open-border zealots. The wishes of the majority were ignored.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Net migration is already down by 82% under this Government, though there is still more to do to reduce it further. The Home Secretary has set out plans for a skills-based migration system that focuses on contribution and integration, while reducing reliance on lower-skilled overseas recruitment.”