During the summer a large canine has slunk unnoticed across the British political landscape, failing to bark. Figures released last month by the Office for National Statistics show net migration from the European Union fell to 87,000 in the year to March, while net migration from outside the EU rose to 235,000 in the same period.

This raises questions that some of us deem important, but which no leading politician has dared to ask. After Brexit, Britain may gain powers to exclude EU nationals: Polish plumbers, Romanian car-washers and pickpockets. But what new weapons will the government secure to reduce legal immigration from outside the EU? Is it not within our existing powers to control the number of non-EU migrants, as a large majority