A migration policy that may even work

At last! After years of minor tinkering with migration rules, Home secretary theresa may has put forward radical proposals for dealing with a problem that only radical answers can solve.

indeed, it becomes ever clearer that without a dramatic change in policy, the tories have no hope of achieving their manifesto ‘ambition’ to cut net immigration to less than 100,000 a year.

Last week’s official figures, showing a record net inflow of 330,000 in the year to march, merely rubbed in the failure of everything ministers have tried since they made the commitment in 2010.

But mrs may’s latest proposals really could make a difference. Under these, EU citizens would be refused permission to settle in Britain without a job lined up before they come.

since 63,000, or 40 per cent, arrived from the EU last year to look for work or benefits, with no firm offers, any such change could be truly significant.

Rightly, mrs may also calls for reform of our partners’ open borders schengen Agreement. indeed, this has thrown europe’s migration and asylum policy into anarchy, while encouraging the vile trade in people-trafficking and drawing thousands to Calais in the hope of smuggling themselves into the UK.

of course, it is one thing to demand such changes – quite another to work out the details and get our partners to agree.

But with european leaders expressing misgivings about the rules, there is surely no better time for a fair hearing.

meanwhile, with a referendum coming, it must make sense to press for changes that would have a marked effect – instead of merely begging the EU’s permission to restrict migrants’ rights to benefits, over-generous though these are.

As for NON-EU net immigration, still more than half the total, mrs may deserves credit for last month’s rules which should make it harder for foreign students to remain after their courses.

since there are 96,000 more arrivals than departures of NON-EU students each year, this paper will be watching to see what difference her crackdown makes.

on one point, she should be in no doubt. With immigration likely to dominate the referendum debate – and perhaps the next election – the stakes riding on her success or failure could hardly be higher.