Bright Blue, the independent think tank for liberal conservatism, today calls on the new Home Secretary to control migration in alternative ways to the net migration target.

Ryan Shorthouse, Director of Bright Blue, said:

"The Government should control and reduce the level of migration into the UK. But the current net migration target should be abandoned, since it is arbitrary and indiscriminate. The consistent failure to meet it has further eroded public trust in our immigration system.

"It is time to develop new, gross targets for different types of migrants: workers, students, refugees and asylum applicants, and family migrants. These targets should be developed after extensive consultation led by the Migration Advisory Committee. And the Government should be held to account on these targets through an annual Migration Day in Parliament.

"If the Government does not meet the targets it has set on immigration, the public will want to see that appropriate action has been taken. The Government should automatically commit to extra funding through the Controlling Immigration Fund, so local areas experiencing high level of migration have additional resources to cope"