Cut students from migrant total to hit goal, Cabinet tells Mrs May
THE Tory pledge to cut net immigration to the ‘tens of thousands’ will never be met unless foreign students are removed from the numbers, a string of Cabinet ministers have warned Theresa May.
The Prime Minister is facing a Cabinet revolt over her refusal to countenance the change, which could slash headline immigration figures by more than a third.
At least six Cabinet ministers are believed to have told Mrs May that Brexit offers a chance to recast the whole immigration debate, including removing students from the figures. The revelation came as Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon refused to rule out the UK remaining part of the EU’s free movement rules for several years in order to provide a
‘They are here to study, not stay’
‘transition period’ to help firms smooth the path to Brexit.
Sir Michael said it was ‘clear’ that Brexit would involve the UK leaving the EU’s free movement regime. But speaking during an appearance on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, he refused four times to say whether it would end immediately when the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.
He said ministers were contemplating a transitional deal that could last for several years in order to avoid a ‘cliff edge’ and to ‘give business the certainty it needs’.
Asked when free movement would end, he said: ‘ We cannot give a timetable on negotiations that haven’t even started yet.’
Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox have all be slapped down by Number 10 in recent months after suggesting publicly that the Government should consider taking foreign students out of the immigration figures.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Work and Pensions Secretary Damian Green and Business Secretary Greg Clark are also thought to have raised the issue with her privately, as has universities minister Jo Johnson.
A Cabinet source said: ‘It is true that the PM has set her face against this, but it is very much a live debate.
If we are ever going to get anywhere near the tens of thousands target then we are going to have to bite the bullet on it. All the polling suggests that most people do not consider foreign students to be migrants, because they are coming here to study, not to stay.’ Around 200,000 visas a year are granted to students from outside the EU, with about 130,000 students also arriving from EU countries.
Net immigration is currently running at over 300,000 a year – more than three times the level pledged by the Tories in their manifestos in 2010 and 2015.
A senior government source last night said speculation that the tens of thousands target would be dropped from the next manifesto was ‘100 per cent wrong’.
But he said the PM believed taking students out of the numbers would kill trust.
He added: ‘We would be pilloried for it. We remain committed to cutting net immigration to the thousands but you can’t just do it by fiddling the figures.’