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We can control migration inside EU, says PM We can control migration inside EU, says PM
(35 minutes later)
David Cameron has said his target to bring down net migration can be done inside the EU and it would be "madness" to do so by voting to leave. David Cameron has said he believes migration can be managed if the UK remains inside the EU and it would be "madness" to do so by voting to leave.
In a live Q&A on Sky News, the prime minister said leaving the single market would "trash" the UK economy. He said he did not accept that his pledge to cut immigration below 100,000 could not be achieved within the EU.
He said the "right way" to control immigration was to ensure migrants "pay in" before they get access to welfare. In a live Q&A on Sky News, he said leaving the EU and the single market would "trash" the UK economy.
Vote Leave said "real voters" have "rejected his scaremongering and don't believe his assurances on Turkey". Vote Leave's Iain Duncan Smith said the studio audience were "fed up with the scaremongering" of the Remain campaign.
The live Q&A and questions from a studio audience on Sky News was Mr Cameron's first major TV event of the EU referendum campaign.The live Q&A and questions from a studio audience on Sky News was Mr Cameron's first major TV event of the EU referendum campaign.
Mr Cameron, whose party is split on the EU, has refused to take part in any head-to-head TV debates against fellow Conservatives who back leaving the union. Among the first questions he faced from Sky's political editor Faisal Islam was one on the net number of EU migrants that have arrived in the UK since he became prime minister in 2010.
But Michael Gove will make the case for Leave and face questions in an equivalent event on Sky News on Friday. Mr Cameron said about 600,000 had left this country and about 1.2 million had come to live or work here, accepting immigration was a big challenge.
Among the first questions to Mr Cameron from Sky's political editor Faisal Islam was one on the net number of EU migrants that have arrived in the UK since he became prime minister in 2010. Told his manifesto pledge to cut net migration into the UK to the "tens of thousands" could not be achieved while the UK remained in the EU, Mr Cameron said: "I don't accept that. I think it remains the right ambition for Britain."
Mr Cameron said about 600,000 had left this country and about 1.2 million had come to live or work here. Last month it emerged net migration to the UK hit 333,000 in 2015.
He described this as "big numbers moving in each direction", adding that immigration was a big challenge - but one that could not be solved by leaving the single market and damaging the UK economy. Mr Cameron said the UK economy had outperformed Europe but he expected immigration from and migration to the EU to come into balance as the economies of countries like France and Germany picked up.
He stuck by his "ambition" of bringing net migration into the UK below 100,000 - last month it hit 333,000. "I'm not going to put a date on it," he said. "There are good ways of controlling migration and there are bad ways."
But he added: "It would be madness to try to do that by trashing our economy and pulling out of the single market." He said a "good way" was to ensure new arrivals did not claim unemployment benefit and left after six months if they did not have a job - as he had done in his renegotiation - as well as ensuring people "make a contribution" for four years before getting full welfare access.
Mr Cameron said: "There are good ways of controlling migration and there are bad ways. He added: "It would be madness to try to do that by trashing our economy and pulling out of the single market."
"A good way is doing what I did in my renegotiation - which hasn't come into effect yet and will if we stay in the EU - which is to say to people `If you come to our country, first of all you don't claim unemployment benefit, after six months if you haven't got a job you have to leave, and when you do get a job you have to work for four years, paying into the system, before you get full access to our welfare system'. 'Drives me crazy'
"I think we should welcome the fact that people want to come to our country, work hard, make a contribution, pay into our system, but they ought to pay in before they get out. And that's what I've secured through my negotiation." In a wide-ranging discussion, which included accusations from audience members of "scaremongering", "hypocrisy" and "waffling" by Mr Cameron, the prime minister admitted "frustrations" with the EU but said many had been addressed.
The prime minister admitted "frustrations" with the EU but said many of them had been addressed in his negotiations with other EU leaders ahead of calling the referendum.
"Sometimes this organisation drives me crazy. But do I sit there and think Britain would be better off if we left? Are we quitters? Do we think we quit the EU, we quit the single market and somehow we will be better off? Absolutely not.""Sometimes this organisation drives me crazy. But do I sit there and think Britain would be better off if we left? Are we quitters? Do we think we quit the EU, we quit the single market and somehow we will be better off? Absolutely not."
He said the EU would still exist but, should the UK back Brexit, it would be left outside the negotiating room "our nose pressed to the window, trying to find out what decision they were making. That would be terrible". He said the EU would still exist but should the UK back Brexit, it would be left outside the negotiating room, "our nose pressed to the window, trying to find out what decision they were making. That would be terrible".
'Stream of people' 'Scaring people'
A former NHS nurse asked Mr Cameron about the "never-ending stream of people" arriving from Europe and pressure on public services. But former Conservative cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith said it was "telling" that the PM refused to set any date for cutting net migration below 100,000.
"The worst thing we could do for our NHS is to wreck our economy by taking ourselves out of the single market," he replied. "I thought that was a telling moment because he realised it is difficult to achieve that without coming out of the EU and close our borders," said Mr Duncan Smith.
Mr Gove is among members of Mr Cameron's own cabinet backing the case for Brexit - alongside more than 100 Conservative MPs. "All that stuff about, if we leave the EU it reduces the likelihood of war, the audience laughed at that.
"I thought that was the most telling bit because they are fed up with the scaremongering. It shows the way they were going about their business was to scare people to stay in. "
Mr Cameron, whose party is split on the EU, has refused to take part in any head-to-head TV debates with fellow Conservatives who back leaving the union.
But cabinet minister Michael Gove will make the case for Leave and face questions in an equivalent event on Sky News on Friday.
Thursday's event comes with three weeks to go before the in-out referendum on Britain's EU membership and follows the BBC's studio debate last week in Glasgow with leading campaigners for both sides.Thursday's event comes with three weeks to go before the in-out referendum on Britain's EU membership and follows the BBC's studio debate last week in Glasgow with leading campaigners for both sides.
What TV debates are planned, and when?What TV debates are planned, and when?
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SkySky
Channel 4Channel 4