Conservative manifesto 2017: Migration cap will 'definitely' appear

Theresa May will push ahead with a controversial policy of reducing net migration to the UK to the tens of thousands if the Tories are re-elected next month, say reports.

At the moment, net migration to the UK - the overall increase in population after accounting for those emigrating - is estimated at around 273,000 a year.

Tory manifestos since 2010 have pledged to reduce this figure to the "tens of thousands", but Home Secretary Amber Rudd has so far refused to confirm or deny if it will appear in this year's policy document.

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Speaking to BBC Radio 5 yesterday, she said it was "too early to say" if the Prime Minister intended to push forward with a migration cap.

However, the BBC claims it has it on good authority that the pledge will "definitely" make the cut when the manifesto appears this week.

Promises to cut migration have always been popular with a wide swathe of the electorate, but the economic practicalities have prevented successive governments from making headway.

Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, acting director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told the BBC it would be a particular challenge to cut the number of non-EU migrants, the majority of whom are "highly-skilled workers, students and relatives of those already lawfully in the UK".

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) also expressed concern about setting an arbitrary target and called for immigration policies to be set according to economic need rather than political expediency.

Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI director-general, said the economy relied on a flexible labour market currently provided by freedom of movement with the EU and that the British workforce alone could not meet this demand.

"We are a services based-economy and people are our currency," she told the Daily Telegraph.

Any future immigration model must be "need-based", she added, and focussed on giving the economy "the skills and people that we need for our business".

Ukip have attempted to use the government's reluctance to publicly commit to the migration cap to appeal to disappointed Conservative voters.

Party leader Paul Nuttall vowed they would institute a hardline "one in, out one" policy for entry to the UK, with the aim of reducing net migration to zero over a five-year period.

"Balanced migration" would mean "roughly 300,000 talented people can come to Britain in a typical year", he said, adding: "That is a rational approach to immigration rather than the uncontrolled mass immigration we have seen under Labour and the Tories."