Chris Grayling: South-East ‘will change character if migration isn’t better controlled’

“What it’s going to mean is that the character of the areas around the South-East will have to change — we’ll lose green spaces, we’ll lose green belt, we’ll have pressure on school places, the trains and roads will get fuller.

“We’re a great cosmopolitan nation, we’re a great cosmopolitan city in London, but it’s a very different question to say there’s too much pressure on our school places and hospitals.”

Justice Secretary Michael Gove denied claims the Conservatives ran for election in 2015 on the basis of a deception, amid allegations that civil servants told David Cameron four years ago an immigration pledge was undeliverable.

Mr Cameron came under fire after his former policy guru and Leave supporter Steve Hilton claimed he was told it was “impossible” for the Government to reduce net migration to under 100,000 while the UK remained in the EU.

Asked if he and his party campaigned on a “lie”, Mr Gove told BBC radio: “No I did not. I believed and hoped we would be able to secure a deal with Europe which would enable us to amend free movement.”