Former PM David Cameron came under fire after net migration soared to 335,000 a year ago.
Advertisement
She told a news conference in Berlin that the British government had always sought to reduce migration into Britain to “sustainable” levels.
The target was missed during the last Parliament, as net levels exceeded 330,000 previous year – up 20,000 on 2014.
“What is certainly possible, post leaving the European Union – and once we end our obligations under uncontrolled free movement – it will be possible to have a system of control”, he said at a press conference alongside US Secretary of State John Kerry.
A spokeswoman for 10 Downing Street also said the target was still in place, saying: The prime minister does see sustainable levels as down to the tens of thousands.
“This is what we were talking about in the referendum campaign”.
While in the Home Office, Mrs May insisted she remained committed to reducing levels of net migration – the difference between the number of people settling in the United Kingdom and those emigrating – to under 100,000 a year.
“In the prime minister’s view sustainable levels does mean the tens of thousands but we should also recognize the work that will be needed to do that and to get us down to sustainable levels”, she said.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in its “Migration Statistics Quarterly Report”, show that net migration to Britain in 2015 reached +333,000.
The Prime Minister insisted she was committed to reducing the number of people coming to the United Kingdom to “sustainable” levels, which meant the “tens of thousands”. “That has to be the most important thing for the country”.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who was a leading Out campaigner, said: “I think the Home Secretary is entirely right to be careful about committing to numbers because one doesn’t want to be in a position where you are disappointing people again”.
The Prime Minister’s deputy official spokesman has now coined the term “desire”.
But he said the United Kingdom would absolutely be able to exercise greater control over migrant numbers once it leaves the EU.
Advertisement
Critics question how realistic this is given the reliance on migrant labour of certain sectors of the economy, domestic skills shortages and the hostility of many employers to annual migrant limits.
