Policing immigration

Overall there are now 2.29 million EU citizens working here, and 1.25 million from other countries.

Net immigration has dropped to 230,000 - down 106,000 from the previous year. Most of this fall (82,000) was due to more EU citizens departing than coming over - 123,000 EU citizens decided to leave while only 230,000 arrived, mostly due to the declining value of the pound and the uncertainty around Brexit.

This reduction in arrivals is very good news for our Border Force, which can't even cope with our non-EU visitors. A recent inspection report said, "We are alarmed about the impact that inadequate resources are having on Border Force. This is a system which has not functioned properly for years, in large part due to insufficient staffing."

The number of full-time staff has been reduced year on year. Border Force now relies upon partly-trained seasonal staff at Gatwick and Stansted airports. The Irish border is policed by a total of 57 officers, who have to cover four sea ports, three airports and the land border. If a hard border is created then who is going to police it?

Meanwhile Mrs May is insisting on not one but two separate systems for registering EU citizens - one for the ones already here, and one for any new arrivals. She wants the new, parallel systems to be up and running by March next year. Oh, and the Home Office also needs to create a post-transition immigration system - its details haven't even been specified yet.

The Home Office has said that work on this new system has barely begun and it will almost certainly not be ready in time. They already have their hands full with preparing for a tripling of visa applications once free movement is banned. Last year they issued 164,000 visas to non-EU citizens. Once EU citizens need visas then the Home Office will have 400,000 to deal with each year.

Looks like the NHS won't have a chance at the £350 million the Brexiteers promised.