Labour plots immigration blitz after Reform success at polls

No 10 and Home Office expected to ramp up curbs on foreign university students

- Catherine Neilan Whitehall Editor

Reform's local election success is forcing tensions to spill out across Whitehall as pressure builds on the government to bring immigration numbers down.

The Home Office is expected to publish its long-awaited white paper on immigration in the coming days, with plans for a radical reform of the post-Brexit regime and proposals for further restrictions on ways to get a visa, including the graduate route for foreign students. One Whitehall source said this would have a "significant impact" on numbers, posing an existential threat to the universities sector which is already struggling after years of rising costs, stagnant tuition fees and restrictions introduced by the last government on foreign students bringing their dependants.

That intervention led to a 14 per cent year-on-year drop in the number of visa applications, but was quickly followed by the Office for Students warning that almost three-quarters of universities would face cash-flow problems by 2025-26.