I switched on the radio on Saturday to hear a panellist on a politics show repeatedly mentioning foreigners in quite negative tones.

What were these dreadful foreigners up to? They seemed to be working in shops and providing care in care settings, the absolute scoundrels.

"I go to the supermarket and who's on the till? A foreigner." It's seems so retro to hear the word "foreigner" bandied about like something to be feared. It's so much more loaded than "migrant" but any word to describe people who come from overseas feels packed with subtext at the moment.

Which is why the current narrative around the record high immigration figures feels unsavoury. From both left and right there is one voice: we gotta bring these numbers down.

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Do we? The record high figures this year - 745,000 or thereabouts - is the equivalent of adding an extra Glasgow with an extra Airdrie and Coatbridge on top. It's a lot of people.

The sense of urgency in capping net immigration works well for both left and right: Labour can use the issue to condemn the Conservatives' record after 13 years in government.

The Conservative right can use the issue to undermine Rishi Sunak's attempt to tack the party more to the centre and criticise the Prime Minister's record on achieving his five stated aims.

More generally, the Tories can use migrants - same as it ever was - as a handy scapegoat for issues such as the housing shortage and unemployment figures.

Such is the heat on this issue that Suella Braverman made it back to the front page of the Telegraph yesterday; a leaked copy of her "pact" with Mr Sunak on immigration made the headlines.

The so-called pact - which Sunak denies ever agreeing to while he was in negotiations to take the party leadership - contains four suggestions for cutting net migrations figures, including raising the salary threshold to £40,000 and limiting the number of dependents people can bring with them.

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The Conservatives have enshrined in legislation that businesses may pay foreign nationals less than UK workers but also want to set a high earning threshold for people moving to the UK.

They want to encourage employers to hire British but also make it cheaper to hire migrants.

Braverman's suggestion of limiting dependents has been taken up by James Cleverly, who discussed it over the weekend. It's a curious proposition. How does one do this? If you're only allowed to bring a maximum of two children but your younger children are twins do you, what, leave one behind?

There's not a lot of dissent from Labour. Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, told the Sunday Times her party would also increase salary requirements. Though she did add that the party would change the rules about paying migrant workers less.

The shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, also said the party intended to get net migration back to “normal levels”.

It's vital to take into account the Hong Kong and Ukrainian visa schemes - which actually show that creating safe and legal routes into the country works well.

Not all international students will remain in the UK when they finish studying but those who do - graduates with ambition - should be welcomed.

Skilled workers and overseas students help increase GDP.

To play a simple numbers game in reducing migration is poor politics. Another of the reasons migration is so high is the expansion of the health worker visa scheme to include care workers - desperately needed care workers.

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More than 123,500 people have arrived to work in the sector since the route was opened and any plug on this would cause harm. Reducing migration must come with addressing workforce issues.

In the UK, right now, we are seeing a high level of anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic sentiment. Britain is now a multi-cultural and largely safe society, but careless rhetoric - from the thoughtless to the inflammatory - is enough to spark bigoted reactions that shame the country.

Othering migrants is another branch of this. It is the same old "coming here, taking our jobs" schtick that should have been left in the 1970s.

Instead, there should be a sense of pride that students are choosing to come to the UK to study at our internationally renowned universities. There should be a sense of gratitude that people are coming to fill gaps in vital care services.

Setting migration figures at a manageable level is, of course, vital to the economy and multiple workforce sectors. But let's be careful how we do it - and how we talk about it. Otherwise, we look to be a xenophobic and hostile little country, though I suppose that's one way to stop the people coming.