British Prime Minister David Cameron said limiting migration to the U.K. from within the European Union through welfare-payment changes will be an “absolute requirement,” as he embarks on negotiations to deliver on a pledge to reform the U.K.’s relationship with Brussels.
Mr. Cameron, in a speech Thursday, reiterated that changes to welfare entitlements would be a red line for his negotiations. He has promised to secure reforms and then hold a referendum on whether the U.K. should leave the EU.
The speech, his first on immigration since being elected earlier this month for a second term in office, came as official data Thursday showed levels of immigration hit near-record levels. Net migration—those who have come to the U.K. minus those who have left—rose more than 50% to nearly 318,000 in 2014, from 209,000 a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said. This was just below the previous peak of 320,000 that was reached in the year ended June 2005.
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Mr. Cameron had promised during his first term in office to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, a pledge he acknowledges he failed to deliver on. Thursday’s figures showed a significant increase in migrants from both EU and non-EU countries, suggesting the government’s efforts to stem the influx thus far are failing on all fronts.
Mr. Cameron’s ability to directly control levels of immigration is limited under current EU rules, which allows for the freedom of movement of citizens within the 28-country bloc to live and work in any member state. Immigration of EU citizens increased by 67,000 from the previous year to 268,000, according to Thursday’s figures.
The prime minister has made immigration a key plank of his efforts to secure reforms with other EU leaders. He is due to hold his first face-to-face meetings since being returned to office with EU leaders at a summit in Latvia on Friday where he is expected to push his EU reform plans with counterparts on the margins.
Mr. Cameron has said he wants the U.K. to remain in a reformed EU.
In his speech Thursday, Mr. Cameron said he supported freedom of movement within the EU. But he added he wasn’t alone in arguing that there needed to be a change in the system to allay concerns that national welfare systems could provide an “unintended additional incentive for large migratory movements.”
“That is why I and many others believe it is right for us to reduce the incentives for people who want to come here,” he said. “Changes to welfare to cut EU migration will be an absolute requirement in my renegotiation.”
Among measures he has said he would like to introduce are requirements for EU migrants to wait at least four years before receiving state support on their income and housing, moves some experts have said could be discriminatory. European officials have said voiced opposition to any changes to the free movement of people.
‘Changes to welfare to cut EU migration will be an absolute requirement in my renegotiation.’
Mr. Cameron has said his EU plan wouldn’t be easy and would require “a lot of hard negotiation.”
Businesses that operate in the U.K. are becoming increasingly vocal about their views on whether the U.K. should remain in the EU. Some argue that an exit would be damaging to the country’s economy and global standing, while others say such warnings are overblown.
The head of the U.K. operations of Airbus Group NV, Europe’s biggest aerospace company, said Wednesday that the company may curtail investment in Britain were the country to exit the EU. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG said it has established a working group to look at the potential impact from a U.K. exit from the EU on its business in the country, including whether it would be advantageous to move some activities to Germany.
