MILIBAND WILL BRING BACK UNCONTROLLED MIGRATION

After Mail urges him to speak out, PM’s stark warning

It’s the issue of our time. So why is immigration being totally ignored?

DAVID Cameron today makes a passionate plea to Ukip voters not to risk letting in a Labour government that will allow ‘a return to uncontrolled immigration’.

In his most significant intervention on the biggest issue of the election campaign, the Prime Minister sets out ‘very clear and hard-headed’ plans to bring down numbers of incomers.

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail, he insists he understands people’s ‘fears and worries’ about immigration, following a poll showing six in ten are unhappy with the Government’s record. He promises to negotiate a ‘new deal with Europe’ that will address the most ‘powerful draw’ for EU workers, with a four-year ban on them claiming benefits.

Shredding Labour’s stance on immigration, he warns voters considering backing Ukip that they will increase the chances of Ed Miliband becoming prime minister.

‘Do you honestly think Ed Miliband

cares about controlling immigration? No. He was there the last time, remember, when net immigration increased fivefold,’ he says.

‘If you’re someone considering voting Ukip because you want a referendum on Europe and controlled immigration, remember that a vote for Ukip makes it harder for Conservatives to win … Then you will get no referendum, and a return to uncontrolled immigration.’ In other key developments:

An exclusive poll for the Mail showed the Tories with a four-point lead over Labour;

Independent economists said Labour’s plans would mean a £12 billion tax bombshell and £90 billion extra government borrowing;

Ed Miliband prepared to reject Tories’ ‘small-minded isolationism’ and vow ‘never’ to recommend Britain leaves the EU;

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would put Labour in power in a hung Parliament even if it wins 40 fewer seats than the Tories.

The Prime Minister’s intervention follows the results of an Ipsos MORI poll, published on the front page of yesterday’s Daily Mail, showing voters want the Tories to be far tougher on immigration – and a full-page leader urging them not to ignore the issue.

In today’s article, Mr Cameron says Labour presided over ‘complete failure’ on immigration, citing Lord Mandelson’s infamous boast that the party was ‘practically sending out search parties’ for migrants.

He insists the Government has been ‘working to turn this around’, pointing to the closure of 850 bogus colleges that were ‘basically visa factories’, charges for migrants using the NHS, and new exit checks at borders.

Migration from outside the EU has been capped at 20,700 skilled professionals a year and two thirds of new jobs are going to British citizens, compared with 90 per cent to foreigners under Labour, he says.

But the Prime Minister admits the surge in EU migrants has meant the Tories failed to meet their goal of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands each year. The Parliament ended with the figure at 300,000, three times higher than the Tories promised.

Mr Cameron says the arrival of ‘many more’ workers from the EU has been driven by Britain’s success in creating jobs – more than the rest of Europe combined – and its generous in-work benefits. These, he concedes, have been a ‘powerful draw to EU workers’.

He says he will ‘start negotiating a new deal with Europe straightaway’, before holding an in/out referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU in 2017. It will involve no benefits at all for EU jobseekers and the removal of those who fail to find work within six months.

Those with jobs will get no in-work benefits or tax credits – worth as much as £10,000 a year – until they have been working and paying in to this country for at least four years. Mr Cameron also says he wants ‘no child ben- efit for children of EU migrants living abroad – ever’. ‘All of this is a serious, grown-up plan for reducing immigration long-term … Immigration should be about welcoming those who can contribute to our country; who want to … pay their way, make a life here, and abide by British values,’ he says.

The Prime Minister adds: ‘ This presents you with a clear choice on immigration on May 7. There can only be one prime minister … only one person ultimately responsible for controlling immigration: me or Ed Mili-

‘A clear choice on immigration’

band.’ Mr Cameron amplifies his warning that Labour’s collapse in Scotland means it can only hope to get into power if it is ‘propped up’ by SNP MPs. They have made clear they want still higher levels of immigration, he warns.

Labour has said little in the election campaign about immigration. Last week, Mr Miliband admitted the last Labour government made mistakes over the issue. He said he wanted NHS employees to pass minimum English standards and would appoint 1,000 new border staff if he wins power.