British PM May edges away from Cameron’s pledge to cut immigration, as home secretary refuses to commit

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Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (centre) holds her first cabinet meeting at Downing Street, in London, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:43pm, 20 Jul 2016Updated: 10:49pm, 20 Jul 2016

A question mark has been placed over the future of former British premier David Cameron’s target of reducing net migration to “tens of thousands” by the next election, with the new prime minister, Theresa May, set to head to Germany for talks about Britain leaving the EU.

Doubts about the target arose after the new home secretary, Amber Rudd, would only say her goal was to bring it down to “sustainable levels”.

Her refusal to endorse the specific target provides a hint that it may at some point be dropped by May, a former home secretary, despite a promise in the Conservative manifesto to reduce net migration to below 100,000 before 2020.

May sparked speculation during the EU referendum campaign that she wanted to distance herself from the target set by Cameron when she failed to mention it in her only campaign speech. She also questioned in a television interview whether it was possible to set a particular time period for the target.

British Secretary of State for the Home Department Amber Rudd arrives for a cabinet meeting at Number 10 Downing Street in London on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Speaking after May’s first cabinet meeting in No 10, Rudd declined to endorse the specific target in a BBC interview despite being asked twice if it still existed.

The first time Rudd was asked if she could give “a commitment that you are going to get mass migration down to the tens of thousands in the future?” she replied: “Well, what the prime minister has said is that we must bring migration down to sustainable levels. So that is what is going to be my aim at the moment.”