British business needs foreign students – if only ministers would listen

Employers are suffering from the government’s blanket approach to immigration, says Chris Blackhurst

Karan Bilimoria says recruiting foreign students for higher education is essential (PA)

At the House of Commons on Thursday evening, there was little sign of any government ministers. It was a pity, because I rather wished they’d been walking past the doors of the packed Members’ Dining Room and looked in.

E2E, the business networking and mentoring organisation, was holding a dinner to launch the “E2E International 100”, tracking Britain’s 100 most successful small to medium enterprises. It’s the third such track, all produced in association with The Independent, coming after the E2E Female 100 and E2E Tech 100. “Job Creation”, “Dynamic” and “Profit” are next.

The criteria for the International 100 is more than £5m in export sales over the past two years and more than £10m in turnover.