The Conservative and Labour parties have been gearing up for a fierce debate over immigration statistics for several weeks.

However, when the Office for National Statistics released its latest figures today, they caught everyone off guard.

A decline in immigration numbers was largely anticipated, with Kemi Badenoch even predicting yesterday that the Conservative restrictions on student visas and family reunification would lead to such a result.

In a surprising turn, the statistics authority not only dismissed previous estimates but revealed a staggering new peak of 906,000 migrants in the year leading up to June 2023.

Seizing the moment, Keir Starmer and his closest team quickly identified a chance to attribute the migration issue to their political opponents while strategizing from the confines of No. 10 Downing Street.

In a swiftly organized press conference this afternoon, the Prime Minister took the stage, portraying himself as the solution to the challenges created by a succession of Conservative leaders.

Significantly he also brought up Brexit, saying it had been subverted by previous government loosening border rules outside the EU.

It is a tactic Labour has also tried over the country’s finances, lashing out at a ‘black hole’ in the books.

But the issue for Sir Keir is that he is now the one in charge, and he has yet to spell out a clear plan. Voters are unlikely to be in a forgiving mood come the next election if he fails to keep his solemn pledge to get legal immigration ‘under control’.