Sadiq Khan goes to war with Keir Starmer over foreign student clampdown with London mayor telling PM UK should keep universities 'open'

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

Sadiq Khan today hit out at Keir Starmer 's plan to cut the number of foreign students coming to Britain in his latest clash with the Labour leadership.
The London mayor used a visit to Ghana to say UK universities should remain 'open' to overseas students, after a new immigration clampdown was announced in May.
It will see the amount of time post-graduate students can spend in the UK after completing their course cut from two years to 18 months.
A new levy on income that universities generate from international students could also be introduced.
It follows changes introduced by the former Conservative government in January 2024 that banned almost all international students from bringing dependents like spouses and children with them.
In a written article for the radio station LBC's website, Sir Sadiq said the levy risked 'putting off young people from coming to cities like London and piling yet another burden on our strained higher education sector'.
'Closing our country to global talent would be a pointless act of immense economic self-harm, slowing down growth and leaving working people in every part of the UK worse off,' he said.
'Instead, we must make the argument for openness, confident in the immense contribution that international students make to our prosperity.'
It is Sir Sadiq's latest attempt to distance himself from the Labour government, having also supported recent demands from backbench MPs to water down benefit cuts.
He also criticised the PM for using the phrase 'island of strangers' in an immigration speech earlier this year.
The difference between the number of people moving to the UK and leaving the country is estimated to have halved, in the biggest fall in net migration since the pandemic.
The figure stood at an estimated 431,000 in the year ending December 2024, down 49.9 per cent from 860,000 a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said.
This is the biggest calendar-year drop since the early stages of the pandemic when net migration fell from 184,000 in the year ending December 2019 to 93,000 in the year ending December 2020.
The latest decrease is the largest numerical drop on record and the ONS said the decline has been driven by falling numbers of people coming to work and study in the UK.
Long-term immigration fell below one million for the first time in around three years.
But Sir Sadiq said: 'Whilst we can and must make the economic argument for keeping our country open to global talent, I don't think it quite captures all that is at stake in this debate.
The students who come to London don't just bring billions for our economy. They come with something that cannot be measured in currency alone: new ideas, different cultures and diverse perspectives. When they return, they bring a bit of Britain back with them, too. In an increasingly divided world, there is strength to be found in this kind of collaboration, not least with a continent home to the youngest and fastest-growing population on Earth.