James Cleverly has faced a backlash after boasting about a Tory crackdown on overseas care workers.

In December, the home secretary announced a five-point plan to bring down the numbers of immigrants coming to the UK by 300,000 a year.

The strategy included banning overseas care workers from bringing dependents with them to the UK as the minimum income requirement for anyone wanting to move foreign family members with them was to be more than doubled to £38,700.

The new rules will come into effect from March 11. On Monday, Cleverly took to X (formerly Twitter) to highlight how the ban is moving forward.

He said: “Today in parliament we have laid an order to ban overseas care workers from bringing dependants. This is just one part of our plan to deliver the biggest-ever cut in migration.”

The government made the announcement as figures revealed that 672,000 more people entered the UK than left it in the 12 months to June.

The Tories’ 2019 general election manifesto pledged to bring the figure down to less than 229,000.

On X, Cleverly’s update received short shrift. SNP leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn, said: “This will damage the care sector, the NHS and the economy. It is populist idiocy.”