Immigration experts at Oxford University say it is “extremely unlikely” the Government will achieve its aim of slashing net migration to the tens of thousands.

It comes after new figures by the Office for National Statistics showed 35,000 more people immigrated to the UK in the year ending September and 23,000 less people left the country.

This is said to be mainly due to a significant leap in the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians moving to the country.

The university’s migration observatory director Scott Blinder said: “The key changes in this report are to EU migration – an area over which immigration policy has less direct influence.

“This highlights the fact that the net migration target is not something that can be delivered purely through policy, but relies on other trends as well.”