Labour camouflaged their record on immigration and their lack of any commitment, let alone policies to reduce it by focusing on relatively trivial labour market measures. The Liberal Democrats had nothing significant to say. UKIP repeated their intention to adopt a Point Base System – the very policy that led to chaos under Labour. They also mentioned a target of 50,000 but it was so vaguely defined as to have little meaning. The Conservatives minimised references to immigration but the Prime Minister made a clear reaffirmation of his commitment to limiting immigration and he also made an important commitment to put EU Freedom of Movement “at the heart of his renegotiation of British EU membership”. He was deliberately vague as to what his actual demands would be but this could yet turn out to be a historic decision.
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