Confusion over Ukip’s immigration policy grew yesterday after Nigel Farage called for the number of arrivals into Britain to be limited at 50,000 a year. But at the same time he claimed that overall caps on net migration – as pledged by the Tories – would be ‘ludicrous’ because it was impossible to stop people leaving the country. Ukip’s manifesto chief later added to the confusion by saying the 50,000 limit ‘might change every year’. Confusion over Ukip’s immigration policy grew yesterday after Nigel Farage called for the number of arrivals into Britain to be limited at 50,000 a year . The Conservatives accused Mr Farage of ‘making up his policies as he goes along’ – but Mr Farage has denied his party has made any U-turns on immigration. Ukip first unveiled an immigration cap in February, with spokesman Stephen Woolfe saying the numbers being granted visas limited at 50,000. But at the start of March, Mr Farage overturned this by saying he would not set ‘arbitrary targets’. At the end of the month, the Ukip leader spoke of a net migration limit of ‘about 30,000 people a year’. Charlie Elphicke, the Tory candidate in Dover, said: ‘Ukip’s immigration policy doesn’t just change by the day, it changes by the minute in the space of one interview. It’s complete chaos. ‘The truth is with Nigel Farage, you just don’t know what you’re going to get. The only certainty is that a vote for Ukip lets Ed Miliband limp into Downing Street via the backdoor - and then there will be no action on immigration.’ Interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday, Mr Farage said about his party’s cap: ‘It’s below 50,000 a year, all right? It’s below 50,000 a year. Simple as that. The Conservatives accused Mr Farage of ‘making up his policies as he goes along’ – but Mr Farage has denied his party has made any U-turns on immigration . ‘But this whole debate we’ve been tied up with caps for five years. It’s devalued the debate. What we’re not actually addressing is the fact that 624,000 people settled in Britain last year and that we have no control over the numbers that settle this year or next year. ‘Let’s be honest, we cannot have any debate about immigration about numbers while we’re members of the European Union.’ Later in the day, Suzanne Evans, Ukip’s manifesto chief, said the level of the cap might change. She told the BBC News channel: ‘If we say, we have 21,000 highly skilled people coming from outside of the EU, where there is already a points based system, then we will talk to the businesses, that’s where we get our 50,000 limit from, but that might change every year.’
In February, Ukip unveiled 50,000 cap on those being given visas for UK.
Farage then refused to have ‘arbitrary targets’, before moving it to 30,000.
Tories accused Mr Farage of ‘making up his policies as he goes along’
Mr Farage has denied his party has made any U-turns on immigration.