David Cameron caused a certain amount of controversy last week when he promised to reduce the number of immigrants coming to this country to “tens of thousands” per year.
Vince Cable, the business secretary, criticised the PM saying this was a Tory government target rather than a coalition policy. He also felt that Mr Cameron’s comments risked inflaming extremism especially as they were made in a speech to Conservative activists.
Ed Miliband, the labour party leader, said ministers should stop fighting amongst themselves and get a grip on the problem of immigration.
In the Conservative election manifesto last year, the party called for steps to revert net migration to tens of thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands, per year. However, the agreement struck by the Tories and Lib Dems when they formed the coalition did not refer to specific numbers.
In his speech in Southampton, David Cameron pointed out that communities have been affected by immigrants who are unable to speak English and do not wish to integrate. This has caused a level of disjointedness and discomfort in some areas. Many people have experienced this and it is unfair not to address the problem, he continued.
Mr Cable has on several occasions spoken of the dangers to the UK economy of an immigration cap and he was quick to deny that this new policy was coalition policy.
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, took a slightly different stance on the issue saying he was proud of the work the PM and Cable have done on the “sensible” coalition immigration policy but the Lib Dems would not have used the same language as Cameron did in his speech. He believes the PM chose his wording because he was speaking to an audience of Tory supporters in the run-up to May’s elections.
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