The home secretary at Imperial College London this week. Her immigration system will favour skilled workers

Britain’s eight million “economically inactive” adults can take the place of low-skilled foreigners when a new points-based immigration system comes into force, Priti Patel said today.

The home secretary was criticised for “unrealistic” figures when she launched the government’s new post-Brexit immigration plan by saying that although unemployment was at a record low the figures hid many more working-age Britons who were not in active employment.

She said that in future it would be necessary for businesses to become more productive and help British workers “up their skills and make [them] relevant” to the job market.

“We have 8.45 million people between 16 and 64 who are economically inactive,” she told the BBC. “We want businesses to invest in them — invest in skilling them