The Conservative party has said it still
hopes to meet its “tens of thousands” net migration target before the next
election despite unexpectedly high recent figures and calls from Tory
backbenchers to abandon the pledge.
[…]
But Grant Shapps, Tory party chairman, told
the BBC on Sunday that the government had brought down immigration from outside
the EU to its lowest level since 1998.
“The pledge is for the end of the
parliament – we are only partway through,” he said. “That is still our goal –
to bring the numbers down.”
When asked whether he thought the target
could still be reached within the electoral deadline, he said: “I very much
hope so.”
However, Ukip leader Nigel Farage lambasted
the government’s record on immigration, saying the recent figures exposed
ministers’ inability to prevent “hundreds of thousands more people” coming to
the UK from within the EU.
