Liam Fox may have taken taken centre stage today but it's worth focusing on our Prime Minister's speech at lunchtime where he outlined the government’s plans to get a grip on immigration into Britain.
The speech at the Institute for Government saw Mr Cameron outline a number of proposals including
stricter tests on the genuineness of a relationship for those wishing to bring partners to the UK
setting a minimum income level for those wishing to bring spouses and family here to ensure they are not placing a burden on the taxpayer
making spouses wait longer - five not two years - before they can apply to settle here, to help ensure their relationship is genuine
introducing new legislation to ensure registrars are able refuse to perform wedding ceremonies which they know to be a sham
rewriting the citizenship test to make sure British history and culture is at its heart and
rewriting the immigration rules to help prevent Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights being abused
It is of course the topic that nobody wants to talk about but it seems the PM's speech has been fairly well received in most quarters and like Europe will attract the pats on the back from his own party.
However the crux of the speech may well be floored.
Daniel Knowles writing in the Telegraph just prior to the speech claimed that there is no evidence at all that large numbers of migrants entering by the family route are living on welfare, or that current policy is failing to deal adequately with the problem of forced marriages
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