Immigration will fall but STILL won't hit target of dropping below 100,000 a year even after Brexit, budget watchdog predicts

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Net migration will not fall below 100,000 even after Britain leaves the EU, the Government's budget watchdog predicted today.

In its five-year forecast published alongside Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement today, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts net migration will only fall slightly as the UK adopts a tighter migration regime after Brexit.

But the change won't be sufficient enough to hit the Tory Government's target of reducing net inward migration to the 'tens of thousands' - even by 2021, it says. 

If the forecasts are correct, it will mean the Conservative party's pledge to cut immigration to under 100,000 will have been missed for 10 years in a row. 

Today's forecasts also reveal immigration levels would have been 80,000 per year higher if Britain had voted to stay in the EU. 

The latest net annual migration figures showed numbers were 327,000 in the year to March

Net migration had already hit 327,000 in the year to March this year. 

The OBR, which based its forecasts on the assumption that the UK leaves the EU in April 2019, predicts that inward migration will decline because the 'pull' factor attracting European workers to the UK will be weaker once we leave.

The watchdog was preparing to increase its predicted level of net migration by 80,000 a year in the event of a Remain vote.

The revelation exposes starkly how, under EU free movement rules, migrant numbers would have continued to rise. 

At the last Budget in March, the OBR predicted that net migration – currently 330,000 a year - would fall to 185,000 a year by 2021.

That was due to be revised up in the event of a Remain vote because, the OBR has concluded, there is ‘no sign’ of migration falling.

It would have moved to the Office For National Statistics’ ‘high’ prediction for migrant numbers – which is 80,000 higher.

In its five-year forecast published alongside Philip Hammond's Autumn Statement today, the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts net migration will only fall slightly as the UK adopts a tighter migration regime after Brexit

However, because Britain voted to Leave, and ministers have declared their intention to reduce migration, their predictions are unchanged.

That means net migration is expected to reach 185,000 a year by 2021 instead of 265,000 a year.

The OBR also said Brexit means it is likely the UK ‘will become a less attractive destination for potential inward migrants’. 

The fall in immigration will hit tax revenues by a total of £16billion by 2021, the OBR predicted. 

In total, Brexit will cost the Treasury an estimated £58.7billion in lost tax receipts over the next five years. 

Chancellor Philip Hammond (left) said Theresa May (right) had 'made clear' she would take back control over immigration policy once Britain leaves the EU as he dismissed calls to continue the EU's freedom of movement rules after Brexit

The figures led pro-EU MPs to demand the Government abandons plans to restrict EU migration when it leaves the EU. 

But the Chancellor Mr Hammond dismissed the calls and said voters had sent a clear message in the EU referendum that they wanted control on migration numbers. 

He said: 'The Prime Minister has made clear that we have to accept the decision of the British people - not just to leave the European Union but clearly implied in that decision is the desire to control over movement across our borders. 

'That is not the same as cutting ourselves off from Europe, it's not the same as turning our backs on Europe, but there has to be control of the flow of people into the United Kingdom. 

'So the challenge is to get a deal that effectively allows our businesses, our workers to sell their products into Europe; European businesses and workers to sell their products into the UK while still meeting that political mandate that we've received from the British people.'