British vot­ers’ immi­gra­tion con­cerns vex Con­ser­v­a­tive Par­ty try­ing to hold on to pow­er

NORWICH, Unit­ed King­dom — British Prime Min­is­ter Rishi Sunak has declared a gen­er­al elec­tion to be held on July 4. On May 22, a wet Wednes­day after­noon, Sunak stood by him­self at a lectern and revealed the date while address­ing the coun­try out­side Down­ing Street. The Labour Par­ty anthem, “Things Can Only Get Bet­ter,” erupt­ed from a near­by street as he plead­ed with the peo­ple to back him. 
As his words were drowned out, so was his suit, going from wet to sat­u­rat­ed in about six min­utes. From an optics per­spec­tive, it was not the most aus­pi­cious moment to hold a press brief­ing and open an elec­tion cam­paign. How­ev­er, it goes beyond mere­ly a junior civ­il servant’s inabil­i­ty to bring him an umbrel­la.

British Prime Min­is­ter Rishi Sunak is seen near an immi­gra­tion van in Lon­don in 2023. (Susan­nah Ireland/Pool Pho­to via AP)

It is symp­to­matic of a key pol­i­cy prob­lem, regard­ing immi­gra­tion to Great Britain. It has been get­ting worse in recent y …