Starmer's migration package is significant - but will it be enough?

There's little doubt Sir Keir Starmer's proposals to curb legal migration are substantial and are likely to result in a meaningful reduction.  That the ban on new care workers from overseas is causing angst in the sector is proof that it will make a difference, regardless of the arguments for and against the plan.

Increasing the educational qualifications and English language requirements simply squeezes the eligibility of potential migrants. The decision to double from five to 10 years the wait to become a permanent resident means a much tougher qualifying period than the US.

This is a significant package. Politics latest: Watch Sophy Ridge live from Category B jail But will it be enough, given we've had other substantial packages under previous administrations? Perhaps - but we will not know for years.

But as well as moving the policy debate, the prime minister is also changing the political terms of discussion. Sir Keir insisted on Monday that he rejects the longstanding claim of Labour predecessors about the link between growth and migration.

Although he has previously made this argument, the latest announcement was the most emphatic rejection of a cornerstone of cross-party thinking that lasted up to and through the Brexit referendum. The prime minister now says he knows better but what has he done about that? Read more:What are Starmer's new immigration rules?Labour's immigration plan builds on Tory rollbacks An unspoken feature of our government since Brexit has been that successive chancellors have ended up as advocates for higher migration, knowing that any drop in numbers would also hit their growth projections.

There are those in Downing Street who believe that the interaction of fiscal rules and OBR forecasts do not capture the true net economic cost-benefit of migration. But when I asked Sir Keir about this, and whether he could change the way of measuring the economic impact of migration, he dodged the question.

But does anyone have the answer? Farage's approach Most presume the toughest solutions come from Nigel Farage's Reform UK, and he attacks the prime minister for fiddling around the edges. But how would he do it? Last year's Reform manifesto promised a "freeze on non-essential immigration.