May slaps down Hammond over migration target: A day after he said foreign students could be stripped out of figures, PM insists: No they won't 

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Theresa May delivered a brutal slapdown to Chancellor Philip Hammond last night after the Government endured a chaotic 24 hours over the issue of foreign students.

Mr Hammond had told MPs on Wednesday that ministers were having ‘conversations’ about whether international students should be taken out of the Government’s net migration target.

Downing Street initially appeared to confirm that a full-scale review of the controversial scheme was under way.

Theresa May, pictured this afternoon in Brussels, tonight firmly ruled out any exemption for foreign students from migration totals in a rebuke to her Chancellor 

But last night, following a farcical few hours of conflicting statements, the Prime Minister ordered No 10 to declare ‘categorically’ that the idea was not being considered.

It fuelled speculation that Mr Hammond is becoming increasingly isolated in the Cabinet because of his ‘soft’ views on Brexit.

In a blunt rebuke, a No 10 spokesman said: ‘Our position on who is included in the figures has not changed, and we are categorically not reviewing whether or not students are included.’

Only last week, Mr Hammond refused to approve plans for a tough visa system for EU workers during Cabinet talks.

And ministers have privately accused him of ‘undermining Brexit’ by warning that the British economy faces a ‘rollercoaster’ ride.

One Cabinet minister accused him of using his party conference speech this month to deliver ‘a tirade of negativity’ about Brexit.

The Treasury angrily denied claims at the weekend that he had threatened to quit because of growing differences over the UK’s negotiating stance with Brussels.

Philip Hammond yesterday suggested to the Treasury Select Committee, pictured, that foreign students could be excluded from migration totals 

And Mr Hammond told MPs that he was not acting as a drag anchor on Brexit, adding: ‘My job is to make Brexit a success.’

But the latest row highlights mounting Cabinet tensions as ministers try to agree the Government’s priorities for the negotiations with Brussels. The tension between Mrs May and her Chancellor after just 100 days of the new government marks a dramatic change from the cosy relations between No 10 and No 11 during the Cameron-Osborne era.

Mr Hammond is said to be irritated at his exclusion from the PM’s daily 8.30am strategy meeting – an event Mr Osborne often used to chair.

Removing foreign students from the figures could have a major impact on the Government’s prospects of hitting its target of reducing net migration to below 100,000 a year.

Ministers pushing for the change believed it would also help Britain’s universities continue to attract tens of thousands of fee-paying students every year.

Mr Hammond told the Commons Treasury committee on Wednesday: ‘When the public says they have got concerns about immigration they are not talking about computer programmers, brain surgeons, senior managers... or possibly students. They are talking about people competing for entry-level jobs.’

Mrs May opposed the move for six years as Home Secretary. It is thought she shared concerns about the impact on public confidence.

At 11am yesterday, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: ‘What happens in terms of the immigration process we establish as a result of exiting the EU is a matter that will be very closely scrutinised by the Government.

‘This issue is very much a subject for review as we go through the process of exiting the EU – the whole issue of migration is open to review.’

But the mood changed dramatically at 4.25pm, when No 10 issued a fresh statement making it clear that the subject was not up for debate. Lord Green, chairman of the influential Migration Watch think-tank, warned that taking students out of the statistics would damage the already fragile public confidence in the figures.

He said that despite Mrs May’s closure of 850 bogus colleges during her time as Home Secretary, there was still scope for the system to be abused, adding: ‘If you take them out of the figures at this point it will look like an attempt to fiddle the statistics.’