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| May retains target to cut net migration to tens of thousands | May retains target to cut net migration to tens of thousands |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The home secretary insists she still has the target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands. | The home secretary insists she still has the target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands. |
| That is despite the latest annual figures showing 212,000 more people moved to live in the UK than left. | That is despite the latest annual figures showing 212,000 more people moved to live in the UK than left. |
| Theresa May said excluding the EU, the figure was back down to 1990s levels. | Theresa May said excluding the EU, the figure was back down to 1990s levels. |
| There had been "heated discussions" with Lib Dems over policy, but she said there were plans for new measures: "We recognise we need to do something about European migration." | There had been "heated discussions" with Lib Dems over policy, but she said there were plans for new measures: "We recognise we need to do something about European migration." |
| Mrs May told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that tightening up on benefits was one of the government's plans. | |
| 'Tightening benefits' | 'Tightening benefits' |
| "We are seeing an impact on what we are doing where we can control migration from outside the European Union. As I say, net migration from outside the EU is now down to its lowest level since the late 1990s. | "We are seeing an impact on what we are doing where we can control migration from outside the European Union. As I say, net migration from outside the EU is now down to its lowest level since the late 1990s. |
| "For migration inside the EU, we are doing what we can to affect that as well. So we are tightening up on benefits." | "For migration inside the EU, we are doing what we can to affect that as well. So we are tightening up on benefits." |
| Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the government's aim of reducing migration to the tens of thousands by 2015 is a way off. | |
| 'It's a target' | |
| Pressed on whether the government would make a "pledge" or a "promise" to reach its target, Mrs May responded by saying: "I've still got that target, it's always been a target." | |
| The home secretary said the Tories had "yet to get agreement" with their coalition partners, the Lib Dems, on some measures to tackle immigration. | |
| One of those points, she said, was the length of time people coming into the UK from within the EU had to spend before being able to claim benefits. | |
| "We said they can't just come here and claim benefits straight away, they have to wait three months to do that," she said. | |
| "They have six months' ability to claim benefits. We will look at that timing. We will look to see whether it's right to make that six months overall. We haven't yet got agreement across the coalition to do that. But these are the sorts of measures we keep looking at." | |
| Davis criticism | |
| Mrs May added it would be no surprise to anybody that there had been some "long-standing, possibly heated" discussions at times among the coalition on the the issue of immigration. | |
| Mrs May's comments came after one of the Conservative Party's most influential backbenchers said the party lacked clarity, rigour and courage in the eyes of the public. | Mrs May's comments came after one of the Conservative Party's most influential backbenchers said the party lacked clarity, rigour and courage in the eyes of the public. |
| David Davis, who once stood against David Cameron for the Tory leadership, suggested the perceived deficiencies lay behind the popularity of UKIP. | David Davis, who once stood against David Cameron for the Tory leadership, suggested the perceived deficiencies lay behind the popularity of UKIP. |
| He called on Mr Cameron to bring forward by a year his promise of an in/out EU referendum to 2016 - a call which has since been rejected as impractical by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. | |
| Nigel Farage's anti-EU party picked up 161 extra councillors in Thursday's poll - taking seats from all three main Westminster parties and raising questions about their policies a year out from the next UK General Election. | |