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UKIP's Nigel Farage wants return to immigration 'normality' UKIP's Nigel Farage wants return to immigration 'normality'
(about 2 hours later)
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) will not adopt "arbitrary" immigration targets ahead of the general election, its leader Nigel Farage has said. UKIP would cut the numbers allowed into the UK to work but would not set an annual target, Nigel Farage said.
The party had said it wanted net migration for workers capped at 50,000. The party wants immigration to return to "normal" levels, said Mr Farage, with between 20,000 and 50,000 migrants given work permits.
Mr Farage is to outline a range of measures including an Australian-style points-based visa system. A UKIP spokesman said last week work-related immigration should be capped at 50,000 a year.
His party would establish a new commission to reduce migration, with priority given to "highly-skilled migrants and our Commonwealth friends". Mr Farage insisted the party had not done a U-turn, but said the public were sick of talk about caps and targets.
Cutting immigration is a key plank of UKIP's election pitch. Some 271,000 people moved to the UK to work in the year to September 2014, according to latest figures.
'Broken promises' 'Zero control'
Mr Farage told BBC Radio 4's Today programme UKIP would bring immigration levels "back to normality... normality was what we had from Windrush right up until the year 2000, where we had net migration into Britain... between 20,000 and 50,000 people a year." Mr Farage said that under the Australian-style points-based visa system he wants to see, 27,000 people would have qualified to come to work in the UK last year.
He added that since then "we have gone mad, we opened the doors to much of the world but in particular we opened up the doors to 10 former communist countries, and as a result of our EU membership we have absolutely zero control over the numbers who come". "I can't see us getting anywhere near 50,000 but - I will say this - there has been an obsession with caps, floors, ceilings, targets all through British politics. I don't think the public are interested or believe any of it."
Mr Farage added: "I'm not putting caps or targets... you need to have more flexibility than that. The point is this: we currently have no control over the numbers, we are incapable of debating anything now in politics without caps and targets and I think the British public are bored with it." Since 2000, he argued, "we have gone mad, we opened the doors to much of the world but in particular we opened up the doors to 10 former communist countries, and as a result of our EU membership we have absolutely zero control over the numbers who come".
He said: "In the end we can talk about numbers, we can talk about money, we can talk about the impact on wages... but in the end there is something about this immigration debate which is about more than money. It's about communities, it's about the country in which we live." Mr Farage, who will set out his party's policy in a speech later, told BBC News: "UKIP is putting forward a policy that will take immigration in Britain back to normal. Normal was from 1950 until the year 2000."
In an article for the Daily Telegraph ahead of a speech on the subject, Mr Farage said: "While politicians and the people they represent determine the direction of travel for this country, we will not, unlike the other parties, seek to set arbitrary targets which only result in broken promises." Last week, UKIP immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe said: "We would seek to have a cap of 50,000 on those coming here for work, for a period of five years."
In 2011, Prime Minister David Cameron promised to reduce net migration - currently 298,000 - to below 100,000. 'Making it up'
Opinion polls But Mr Farage said that had now changed.
The Conservatives have since said the target was "blown off course" by migration from within the EU and restrictions on policy imposed by their Lib Dem coalition partners. "There's no U-turn, there's a change of emphasis. Rather than talking about caps we are talking about policy," he told BBC News.
Chancellor George Osborne said the party was right to be keeping the "tens of thousands" target for the future. Under UKIP, migrant workers would have to have a job paying more than £27,000 a year before being admitted - but there would be exceptions such as nurses.
But asked about Mr Farage's comments, Mr Osborne told Today that Mr Farage seemed to be "making it up as he goes along", talking about a cap and then dropping it "live on air". The party would set up a quango to decide on pay levels and who should be admitted.
UKIP's immigration spokesman Steven Woolfe told the BBC's Daily Politics last month 50,000 was a "gross" target, relating to "those who have the right to work with the option for permanent residence here". Chancellor George Osborne accused Mr Farage of "making it up as he goes along".
The Conservatives have also said they want to get migration back to the levels seen in the 1980s and 1990s - but unlike UKIP their chosen measure includes students and family members, as well as those emigrating from the UK.
The total figure for net migration - the difference between the numbers settling in the UK for at least a year and those leaving for at least a year - was 298,000 in the year to September.
That was three times what the Conservatives said they wanted to be at this stage - but the party insists it has not abandoned its target of reducing net migration to the "tens of thousands".
They say the target was "blown off course" by migration from within the EU and restrictions on policy imposed by their Lib Dem coalition partners.
In his speech, Mr Farage, whose party wants the UK to quit the European Union, will promise to reduce "low-skilled, Eastern European migration" and say UKIP would treat EU and non-EU migrants in the same way, with qualifying workers issued with a visa valid for five years.In his speech, Mr Farage, whose party wants the UK to quit the European Union, will promise to reduce "low-skilled, Eastern European migration" and say UKIP would treat EU and non-EU migrants in the same way, with qualifying workers issued with a visa valid for five years.
The party also says it would recruit an extra 2,500 border staff.The party also says it would recruit an extra 2,500 border staff.
EU referendum
"Despite Mr Cameron's pledge, net migration is now up to 300,000 people per year. It is unsustainable, unfair and unethical," Mr Farage will say."Despite Mr Cameron's pledge, net migration is now up to 300,000 people per year. It is unsustainable, unfair and unethical," Mr Farage will say.
UKIP said opinion polls consistently showed immigration to be among the public's top concerns.UKIP said opinion polls consistently showed immigration to be among the public's top concerns.
Mr Cameron has said he would put the issue at the heart of negotiations over Britain's relationship with the EU ahead of an in/out referendum.Mr Cameron has said he would put the issue at the heart of negotiations over Britain's relationship with the EU ahead of an in/out referendum.
He plans a crackdown on migrants' rights to welfare payments in order to reduce the "incentive" to come to the UK.He plans a crackdown on migrants' rights to welfare payments in order to reduce the "incentive" to come to the UK.
Labour has promised to "control immigration fairly", including plans to stop cheap foreign workers replacing British staff.Labour has promised to "control immigration fairly", including plans to stop cheap foreign workers replacing British staff.
It would also recruit an extra 1,000 border staff, while the Lib Dems would reintroduce exit checks at borders.It would also recruit an extra 1,000 border staff, while the Lib Dems would reintroduce exit checks at borders.