It’s time to scrap the net migration target, say MPs

THE Government should scrap its target to cut net migration to the tens of thousands, MPs have said.

The Commons home affairs committee was highly critical of the Home Office target – introduced in 2010 and supposed to have been met three years ago.

‘The net migration target should not be an objective of European Economic Area migration policy. It is not working and should be replaced,’ its report concluded.

Most recent data shows overall net migration – the difference between those arriving and those leaving the UK for at least a year – was 282,000, up 33,000 in a year and almost three times the target.

Britain’s future migration policy could also include an ‘emergency brake’ to stop inflows from Europe, the MPs’ report suggested.

It was one of several proposals that would permit ‘restrictions on the free movement of people during periods of high inflows while allowing the UK to continue participating in the single market’.

The MPs also criticised the Government’s failure to set out a detailed post-Brexit immigration policy.