The Government’s plans to curb the number of foreign students arriving in the UK are in doubt after receiving major pushback from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, i understands.
Mr Hunt is understood to be resisting the Home Secretary’s plans to limit the number of dependents that foreign students can bring with them to the UK, arguing that doing so would inflict major damage on the British economy.
Ms Braverman said last year that she would look at clamping down on international students after net migration reached a record high of 504,000 in the year to June.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that nearly 40 per cent of the 704,000 non-EU nationals that came to the UK in the same period arrived on study visas.
i understands that there are no plans to introduce a “cap” on the number of foreign students per se, but that Ms Braverman is working with No 10 to draw up measures to deter some international students from applying to UK universities.
Senior Tory MPs told i that the Home Office is currently at loggerheads with the Treasury and the Department for Education (DfE) over the specific issue of student dependents, though Ms Braverman is also considering measures such as reducing the time that foreign students can stay in the UK after finishing their course.
Currently, foreign students can apply to bring their spouse or partner and children to the UK, with some students bringing as many as six dependents with them.
Ms Braverman is said to be considering measures such as only allowing students on PhD courses and other postgraduate degrees to bring family members with them to Britain.
It comes after Home Office immigration figures showed a “surprising inconsistency” across different nationalities coming to the UK to work and study last year, with students from some countries bringing half a dozen family members with them.
Chinese students made up the largest percentage of foreign students who came to the UK in the year to June, but brought the smallest number of dependents with them. In total, 114,837 Chinese students came to study in Britain last year, bringing with them a total of 401 dependents.
By contrast, 34,031 Nigerian students came to the UK last year – 7 per cent of the total figure – but brought 31,898 dependents with them.
However, i understands that Mr Hunt has heeded outcry from the university sector and told Ms Braverman that doing anything to limit foreign student numbers would inflict enormous harm on the sector.
Recent data from economic forecasting firm Oxford Economics showed that international students contribute just short of £30bn annually to the UK economy as an export sector, while also subsidising UK students studying high-cost subjects such as science and engineering.
Leaders in the university sector have warned that introducing measures to limit the number of foreign students in the UK would be an act of “economic self-harm”.
Sources close to Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, also told i that she has pushed back on plans to limit foreign student numbers by emphasising the “soft power” they bring to Britain on the global stage.
They said Ms Keegan would highlight the “benefits foreign students bring to the UK, both financially and in terms of the UK’s reputation abroad”.
It comes as senior Tory MPs also said there was growing irritation across both the Treasury and DfE that Ms Braverman appeared to be “jumping the gun” with major pledges without consulting other departments.
One former minister told i that there was anger within the DfE over Ms Braverman’s “aggressive briefing” on plans to curb international student numbers without cross-departmental discussions.
“Going out and briefing about things before you have had those cross-Government conversations isn’t very wise,” they said.
“When it comes to international students, you’re not going to be able to do something without both the DfE and the Treasury having some say over it. Obviously in this situation, the Treasury carries a lot of weight.”
Another senior Tory MP said there was also frustration that Ms Braverman announced plans to issue new blasphemy guidance for schools without first consulting the DfE.
The Home Secretary announced via an op-ed in The Times earlier this month that she would draw up new guidance to deal with blasphemy in schools after a pupil in West Yorkshire received death threats for scuffing a copy of the Quran.
“We do not have blasphemy laws in Great Britain, and must not be complicit in the attempts to impose them on this country,” she wrote. “I will work with the Department for Education to issue new guidance spelling this out.”
However, the DfE later clarified that it has no plans to issue blasphemy guidance for schools, and that Ms Braverman’s newspaper column was the first that civil servants in the department had heard of the proposal.
The Home Office will now take the lead on blasphemy guidance to be issued to schools with minimal collaboration from the DfE, i has been told. The new guidance will outline children’s protection from punishment over actions perceived to be blasphemous that take place in school.
Both Ms Braverman and the Home Office were approached for comment.