The Treasury’s Kitty Ussher has just given an interview to Bloomberg TV saying Britain’s financial sector needs more new migrants the very day after the Home Office put up a new set of hurdles to slow the number of people coming into the country. “It’s absolutely crucial that we bring skilled people in,” Ussher told Bloomie today, “When we have difficult economic times, we need to search all over the world to find the people we need.”

A month ago the government introduced a points-based migration system to cut migrant numbers. In March, the Home Office ran advertisements announcing “the biggest shake-up of the immigration system in 45 years.” They showed a picture of a series of hurdles, each labeled “New Immigration Controls.” Yesterday Liam Byrne announced new regulations to make it even more difficult for companies to employ skilled migrants. Consistency? Consistently incompetent…