Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to bring down the UK's net migration levels. Credit:Bloomberg She promised "a country that asks not where you've come from but where you're going to" – but her manifesto aims to drastically cut migration by deterring newcomers. At least four policies will work to deter Australians hoping to move to – or already in – the UK: - Doubling the Immigration Skills Charge levied on companies employing migrant workers to £2000 ($3500) a year, using the revenue to train UK workers – putting Australians at a new disadvantage on the British job market. - Toughening visa requirements for students, requiring them to leave the country at the end of their course unless they meet new, higher requirements.

- Increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge to £600 ($1050) for migrant workers and £450 ($780) for international students, to cover their use of the NHS. - Increasing the earnings threshold for people wishing to sponsor migrants for family visas. Mrs May said it was "right" to want to bring the UK's net migration to sustainable levels – tens of thousands rather than hundreds. At current levels it held down wages and put pressure on public services, she said. "I want to see people here having the skills to take on these jobs, while still have a system that brings the brightest and best into Britain," she said. Australia's High Commissioner to the UK, Alexander Downer, said it was clear that the Conservatives were "going for broke" on their immigration policies to try to bring down the numbers coming into the country.

"Assuming the Conservatives win the election, the only way (Australians) will get any improvement in our situation will be in the context of the Free Trade Agreement negotiations," he said. Australia's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Alexander Downer. Credit:Getty Images Australia and the UK are in the early stages of putting together an FTA which will follow Brexit. Australians have flocked to the UK seeking work in the last year. There are more Australian and New Zealand-born workers in the UK labour force than at any time in the last 20 years, according to new figures released on Wednesday. In the first quarter of 2017 there were 157,000 Australian and New Zealand-born workers in the UK labour market. This was 31,000 more than at the same time in 2016, and beat the previous record of 150,000 in the first quarter of 2005. It is the highest number since the ONS data series began in 1997, when the figure was 78,000.

The Conservative party have been promising since they came into power to reduce net immigration to the tens of thousands – however net migration has remained much higher. The number of EU-born migrants working in the UK is at a six month high, according to figures released this week, recovering from a post-Brexit slump. All the employment growth in the first quarter of 2017 came from people born overseas: the number of UK-born people in work fell by 1000 to 26.2 million, while the number of non-UK workers rose by 388,000 to 5.8 million. Workers rights have emerged as a major point of conflict in Brexit, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel warning Britain that an end to freedom of movement for EU citizens "will have its price". At a labour conference in Berlin on Wednesday she threatened new "obstacles" for Britons in Europe.