David Cameron must abandon his ‘impossible’ pledge to reduce net migration if he wins the EU referendum, say Vote Leave
Gisela Stuart said making promises and failing to follow through was 'corrosive' of public trust in politicians
DAVID Cameron must abandon his "impossible" pledge to reduce net migration to below 100,000 if he wins the referendum, Vote Leave has said.
Gisela Stuart, the campaign’s co-chair, said making a promise to control the numbers of people arriving in the UK and failing to follow through was "corrosive" of public trust in politicians.
The Prime Minister said leaving the EU was "not the right way to control immigration", but the Labour MP said a vote for Brexit was the only way to "take back control" of the situation.
Ms Stuart said: "The tragic scenes unfolding in the Mediterranean underline how badly the European Union is handling population movements and migration pressures.
"If we are to maintain public confidence in migration and prevent extremists from dominating the debate, it is essential that elected politicians are accountable for decisions about migration."
The MP, one of her party’s most senior anti-EU figures, said the UK had a proud tradition of helping refuges, and the country had been made "better and stronger" by immigration.
But she said the EU's policies were "failing in humanitarian terms".
Pointing to statistics showing net migration in 2015 was 333,000 - the second highest on record – with 184,000 of them coming from the EU.
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Ms Stuart said: "It is clear that it will be impossible to reduce net migration below 100,000 if we vote to stay in the EU.
"The prime minister must now make clear that he will abandon this manifesto pledge if he wins the referendum on Thursday. He cannot continue to promise to do something that he knows is impossible.
"Inside the EU we don't control our borders and cannot control the movement of people coming here from the EU."
Last night the PM faced tough questions on immigration, and conceded that trying to limit numbers was "very challenging".
In a special edition of Question Time, Mr Cameron said there was "no silver bullet", but was clear in his view that leaving the EU and the single market was "not the right way to control immigration".
He also used the TV debate to say if voters back leave in Thursday’s referendum there would be no going back.
He said: "That's it, we are walking out the door, we are quitting - we are giving up on this organisation.
"I do not think Britain, at the end, is a quitter.”