Chair of migration advisory committee says figure will jump as numbers of overseas students and workers rise again

Net migration to the UK could rise to about 300,000 by the end of the decade, a leading government adviser has said.

Prof Brian Bell, the chair of the migration advisory committee, said the overall migration figure would jump “in the medium term” from the current level of 204,000 as the numbers of overseas students and workers rose again.

Public figures sign letter saying plan to reinterpret ECHR for asylum seekers is ‘affront to us all’ and a threat to security

The actors Michael Palin, Stephen Fry and Joanna Lumley are among 21 well-known figures calling on Keir Starmer to drop plans to weaken human rights law and instead “take a principled stand” for torture victims, on the eve of a crucial European summit.

As David Lammy prepares to attend a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg that will discuss legal changes to stop bogus asylum claims, the novelist Julian Barnes, the actor Adrian Lester and the comedian Aisling Bea have also signed a letter telling the prime minister: “Any attempt at undermining universal protections is an affront to us all and a threat to the security of each and every one of us.”