'FIGHTING CHANCE' MIGRATION WILL FALL TO 150,000 A YEAR

Major boost for Prime Minister as expert predicts migrant numbers will plummet

- Michael Knowles

IMMIGRATION reforms give Rishi Sunak a "fighting chance" of slashing net migration to 150,000, says a leading expert.

In what would give the PM a major general election boost, changes to rules for foreign workers and overseas students could bring a dramatic drop in numbers coming to Britain.

The Government's chief migration adviser said Mr Sunak could fight the next election having met the 2019 Conservative manifesto commitment made by Boris Johnson.

Professor Brian Bell said a ban on foreign students bringing family members with them was having a bigger impact than the Government expected. Measures introduced by Mr Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly could lead to net migration falling to between 150,000 and 200,000.

A source close to Mr Cleverly told the Daily Express: "Almost as soon as he was in the role, the Home Secretary said legal migration levels were unsustainable and too high, and so he and the PM introduced measures to bring it down by hundreds of thousands.

"If someone with the experience and professional rigour as Professor Bell is suggesting we may well achieve that goal we take notice and so should others. We'll continue to focus on making that a reality." Former PM Mr Johnson pledged to cut the figure from 226,000 in 2019.

Mr Sunak and Mr Cleverly announced a series of measures to slash net migration from a record high of 745,000 in 2022. Analysts blamed a surge in student and health and social care visas.

But Prof Bell predicted the number of foreign postgraduate arrivals and dependants could drop from 450,000 in 2023 to 200,000 as the changes take hold.