The government parties and SD have previously announced that they will implement a paradigm shift in migration policy and significantly reduce asylum seekers.
At the same time, the Swedish Migration Agency is not changing its forecast for, among other things, how many asylum applications are expected to come in in 2023.
In the previous forecast in February, expectations were lowered from 18,000 asylum seekers to 16,000. Since then, nothing has happened that has caused the Swedish Migration Agency to change that assessment.
In the latest forecast published today, the number of new asylum applications, other than those coming from Ukraine, is expected to remain at 16,000 in 2023.
"Only takes into account existing legislation"
Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenegard (M) explains this by saying that the Swedish Migration Agency's forecast only takes into account existing legislation and proposed bills, but not other announced legislation.
"This government is moving forward with a number of different measures to drastically reduce immigration to Sweden – but also to increase returns," she says.
SD: "Social Democratic misrule"
SD's migration policy spokesperson Ludvig Asplind has a similar explanation, he says that the forecast is based on what has applied under the Social Democratic government.
"After years of Social Democratic mismanagement, it takes time to reverse the trend. With the reform proposals in the Tidö agreement, we expect a sharp reduction," says Asplind.
Ygeman (S): Labour immigration is increasing
Anders Ygeman (S) also draws attention to the report and says that the government's policy has increased labor immigration to "rogue industries" and to industries where there is no shortage of jobs by 15,000 people compared to how it would have been with S's policy.
"Ironically, the major paradigm shift in migration policy is that the unskilled workforce has been allowed to increase," Ygeman said at a press conference.