The Government has agreed that there should be an annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work. This is one of the ways we will reduce net migration back to the levels of the 1990s – tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands.

While it is important that the UK attracts the brightest and the best people who can make a real difference to the country’s economic growth, immigration is too high. In the long term we should up-skill British workers so that we do not need as many economic migrants to fill jobs.

The Government will consult with business and other interested sectors before taking final decisions on the implementation mechanisms for these limits and the level at which they should be set.