Badenoch emphasised that politicians need to prioritise the needs of British citizens before considering how to help others.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conversative Party leader, has vowed to take a "tough stance" on immigration, warning that the UK cannot sustain the current levels.
She acknowledged that the party hasn't done enough to curb immigration numbers in the past and plans to set a hard annual cap on legal inflows, although she didn't specify what that cap would be.
Badenoch emphasised that politicians need to prioritise the needs of British citizens before considering how to help others.
She expressed concerns that the current pace of immigration is too fast to maintain public services and makes it challenging to integrate people from radically different cultures.
The Tory leader, according to Mail Online, also predicted that new official figures will show a reduction in immigration numbers after measures introduced by the previous government.
However, she stressed that more needs to be done to address the issue.
Badenoch's comments come as she seeks to take a firmer stance on immigration, an issue that has been a key concern for many voters in the UK.
"Immigration is at a pace too fast to maintain public services. And at a rate where it is next to impossible to integrate those from radically different cultures.
"It is time to tell the truth. For decades the entire political class of this country has presided over mass migration.
"We ended free movement but the system that replaced it is not working," Mail Online quoted her to have said.
Ms Badenoch said that the Tories had to "learn from our mistakes. We may have tried to control numbers but overall we did not deliver."
The previous set of figures in May showed net long term migration – the number of people moving to Britain minus those leaving – dropped from a record 764,000 in 2022 to 685,000 last year.
Experts said it was driven by fewer foreign students arriving as well as more people emigrating, but noted that immigration remains "unusually high" and above pre-Covid levels.
Further falls are expected this year after ministers restricted the number of family members that migrants can bring to live with them.