A Labour minister repeatedly refused to give a number on what level of net migration to the UK would be acceptable during a grilling.
Migration minister Seema Malhotra insisted that the Government should not “just pull figures out of the air” when pressed multiple times.
She added that policy must be based on “a credible and serious plan”.
Ms Malhotra told Breakfast: “My point is this, we want to see net migration coming down but we have to do so in a way that is tackling the causes of net migration.
“Because if much of net migration has been driven by recruiting workers from overseas, you also have to look at what the impact on the economy would be.”
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Labour minister Seema Malhotra and BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty (Image: BBC)
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New Tory leader Kemi Badenoch yesterday pledged to set out a target as she admitted her party failed on migration in a major speech.
It comes as revised official estimates showed net migration to the UK hit a higher than previously thought record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The measure for the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving has been revised upwards by 166,000 from the initial estimate of 740,000, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures published today.
But net migration is down 20% to 728,000 in the year to June 2024 following measures introduced by the previous Tory government.
The ONS said that although remaining high by “historic standards”, net migration is “beginning to fall”.
Some 1.2 million people are estimated to have arrived in the UK in the year ending June 2024, while 479,000 are likely to have left.
This compares with 1.3 million who arrived in the UK in the year to June 2023 and 414,000 who left.
The drop in the overall level of net migration has been driven mainly by a fall in the number of dependents arriving in the UK on study visas from outside the EU.