Sunak and Braverman must look beyond borders to resolve net immigration row

Home secretary’s proposal to cut work visas likely to exacerbate post-Brexit staff shortages in low-wage industries

It is a topic Rishi Sunak would no doubt prefer to avoid: the record-breaking jump in net immigration – soon to be revealed in official figures – which is already causing increasingly fractious rows within his cabinet.

Even a trip to the G7 summit in Japan was not far enough, with reporters on the flight asking directly whether the prime minister intended to stick to Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto pledge to bring net immigration down.