No 10 is attempting to sideline home secretary Suella Braverman in order to loosen immigration rules, exposing a damaging cabinet split over how to kickstart the economy.
Liz Truss is keen to hand out more visas to achieve the growth she needs to save her premiership – but is facing open defiance from Ms Braverman, a hardline Brexiteer, who insists tough curbs are needed.
Now The Independent can reveal that business leaders pushing for more foreign workers to plug huge labour shortages have been urged to ignore the Home Office and lobby other departments instead in their efforts to build the case for relaxed rules.