The comments, made in a pre-election TV debate ahead of an unusually close national election, underscore how immigration has emerged as a major issue among voters, some of whom feel migrants have depressed wages, taken jobs from Britons, and diluted the country’s identity.

The issue threatens Cameron’s re-election chances because UKIP, led by Nigel Farage, has taken votes away from the centre-right Conservative Party with a campaign to withdraw from the European Union and end what it calls “open-door immigration”.

Cameron is vulnerable on the subject because he promised, but failed to cut net migration to the “tens of thousands”. Instead, it’s running at around 300,000 per year.

“What we need in our country is to recognise that people who come here and work hard and contribute to our companies and to our communities — they help make this a great country but we do need immigration that’s controlled and fair,” Cameron said.

He outlined his plan to lower immigration from within the EU by restricting access to benefits and sending home migrants who fail to find work within six months.

Farage dismissed those plans as ineffective.

“What, as EU members, can we do to control immigration? Nothing,” he said. “Immigration... is now net 300,000 people a year. It’s 10 times anything this country has had to live with since 1945.”

Source: The Malaymail online