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The Prime Minister quashed speculation that the Tories are edging away from David Cameron's target by confirming a pledge to reduce the figure to the "tens of thousands" will be included in the party's general election manifesto. She also insisted that tighter border controls were urgently needed to ease the pressure on public services and the wage squeeze on the low paid. The Prime Minister said: "Once we leave the European Union we will have the opportunity to ensure that we will have control of our borders."

GETTY/EPA Theresa May has pledged to slash net migration to under 100,000 a year after Brexit

We will have the opportunity to ensure that we will have control of our borders Theresa May

Mrs May gave an unequivocal commitment to keeping the annual migration target from the 2015 general election during a campaign visit to meet new Tory candidates yesterday. In a sign of her increasingly presidential campaign, they appeared under the slogan: "Theresa May's Team" with the word "Conservatives" in much smaller print beneath the headline. She used the event to halt speculation about her border-control policy after Home Secretary Amber Rudd had sparked raised doubts about the party's commitment to the target by suggesting Brexit would lead to a different approach to immigration policy.

Mrs May said: "I think it is important that we continue to say that we do want to bring net migration down to sustainable levels - we believe that means the tens of thousands. "And of course once we leave the European Union we will have the opportunity to ensure that we will have control of our borders in the UK because we will be able to establish our rules for people coming from the European to the UK. "That is a part of the picture we haven't been able to control before and we will be able to control.

GETTY The Prime Minister is hoping to lead Britain out of the EU after the General election

"Leaving the EU means that we won't have free movement as it has been in the past. "And when it comes to voting on June 8 people have a very clear choice between a Conservative Party - me and my team - who are committed to ensuring we bring back control of our borders and Jeremy Corbyn who wants to carry on with free movement as it always has been." Explaining the need for a firm cap on net migration, the Prime Minister added: "It's because of the impact that it has one people, the impact that it has on people particularly at the lower end of the income scale and in terms of the pressure on public services." Earlier, former Tory Cabinet minister Stephen Crabb had warned that keeping the target was necessary to ensure the Government tackled the issue.

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Mr Crabb said: "Having a target like that is really important for being clear with the electorate about where our direction is, what we want to achieve and being ambitious. "My own concern is that we've known for quite some time that reaching that target with immigration is extremely difficult if not possible. "Nevertheless, holding that out there, showing the electorate that that is the destination we want to get to is in line with what they want on the doorsteps but getting there is going to be very very tough." But Ryan Shorthouse, director of the conservative think tank Bright Blue, was critical of the decision to keep the target. He said: "Keeping the net migration target is a mistake.

"Controlling migration should not be centred on an arbitrary, indiscriminate and unrealistic figure." And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted his party would not set a migration target. On a visit to Worcester, he said: "Theresa May made that promise in 2010 and made the same promise in 2015, and didn't get anywhere near it on any occasion at all. "Obviously our manifesto will set out our policy when that's produced next week. "But the issue is that there has to be fair migration into this country and it has to be managed migration." Net migration stood at 273,000 a year in the last set of official figures and has previously risen above 330,000.

GETTY David Cameron had pledged to cut immigration during the campaign for the General election in 2015

GETTY Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted his party would not set a migration target

Mrs May also used her visit to Harrow, north west London, to appeal for a strong mandate from voters for the Brexit negotiations after the election of pro-EU new French President Emmanuel Macron. She said: "Yesterday, a new French president was elected. He was elected with a strong mandate which he can take with him as a strong position in the negotiations. "The UK, we need to ensure we've got an equally strong mandate. "Every vote for me and my team will strengthen my hand in those Brexit negotiations. "The alternative is to risk making Jeremy Corbyn prime minister, and just imagine, try and picture him sitting at that negotiating table with the collective might of the European Commission and 27 other European countries against him. "We know other parties are lining up to prop him up as a coalition of chaos, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish nationalists and others." Mrs May was flanked by Tory candidates from across the south east of England at the visit to an Asian community centre in Harrow.

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