By . Tim Shipman, Deputy Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 17:21 EST, 22 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 19:38 EST, 22 June 2012 . No cap: Labour Party leader Ed Miliband tried to win back support from voters by outlining plans to combat immigration within the EU . Ed Miliband refused to back a cap on immigration yesterday – despite admitting it was still ‘too high’. He outlined plans to combat immigration from within the European Union in an effort to win back support from voters who felt the Labour government abandoned them by supporting the huge influx of foreign workers. But his attempt to convince voters that his party has learned its lesson on immigration was undermined by his failure to tackle the greater scale of migration from outside the EU. The Labour leader offered no prescriptions for restricting the total net immigration, which is still running at 250,000 a year. The Tories have committed to reduce annual immigration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands by the 2015 general election. So far, the numbers have remained stubbornly high, but ministers say measures they have introduced in recent months to reform student visas and restrict the number of family members who can move here will begin to push numbers down. But Mr Miliband refused to endorse that approach – despite evidence that the huge influx of immigrants in recent years has left health, education and social services stretched. He said: ‘I am not going to do what the Government does. I am not going to make a blanket promise about numbers. The answer to numbers is it depends who is coming in and what they are coming here to do. 'On low skill migration I think numbers are probably still too high. I’d like to do something about it. But most of that is from within the EU because we have tightened up the other routes.’ Mr Miliband proposed new measures to prevent Britons being ‘locked out’ of jobs by foreign workers, including forcing firms to declare if they employ high numbers of immigrants. Labour would ban employment agencies that only use foreign workers and job centres would have to be informed of firms employing more than one in four staff from overseas. Mr Miliband distanced himself from the rhetoric of his predecessor Gordon Brown, saying: ‘I am not going to promise “British jobs for British workers”.’ He also said worrying about immigration ‘does not make people bigots, not in any way’, a reference to Mr Brown’s rebuke, during the 2010 general election, of pensioner Gillian Duffy, who he dismissed as a ‘bigoted woman’ after she raised concerns with him about immigration. Changes: Mr Miliband proposed new measures to prevent Britons being 'locked out' of jobs by foreign workers, including forcing firms to declare if they employ high numbers of immigrants . In a reference to the last Labour government, Mr Miliband added: ‘We too easily assumed those who worried about immigration were stuck in the past, unrealistic about how things could be different, even prejudiced. ‘But Britain was experiencing the largest peacetime migration in recent history, and people’s concerns were genuine. To those who lost out, Labour was too quick to say “Like it or lump it”.’ Sir Andrew Green, of Migrationwatch, said: ‘What was missing from his speech was an appreciation of the scale immigration has reached. It’s running at 250,000 a year. That is going to add  millions to our population in 15 years.’ Immigration Minister Damian Green said: ‘Until Ed Miliband supports the Government’s measures to cut and control immigration, Labour will have no credibility. Under his leadership, Labour have opposed our aim to get annual net migration down to the tens of thousands, and they have opposed the cap on economic migration, our changes to student visas and our reforms to family visas.’ Lesson from the past: Gordon Brown speaks in 2010 to resident Gillian Duffy, who he dismissed as a 'bigoted woman' after she raised concerns about immigration .
Labour leader outlines plans to combat immigration from within the EU .
But his speech fails to tackle the greater scale of migration from elsewhere .
Net immigration is still running at 250,000 a year .
By . Tim Shipman, Deputy Political Editor . PUBLISHED: . 17:21 EST, 22 June 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 19:38 EST, 22 June 2012 . No cap: Labour Party leader Ed Miliband tried to win back support from voters by outlining plans to combat immigration within the EU . Ed Miliband refused to back a cap on immigration yesterday – despite admitting it was still ‘too high’. He outlined plans to combat immigration from within the European Union in an effort to win back support from voters who felt the Labour government abandoned them by supporting the huge influx of foreign workers. But his attempt to convince voters that his party has learned its lesson on immigration was undermined by his failure to tackle the greater scale of migration from outside the EU. The Labour leader offered no prescriptions for restricting the total net immigration, which is still running at 250,000 a year. The Tories have committed to reduce annual immigration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands by the 2015 general election. So far, the numbers have remained stubbornly high, but ministers say measures they have introduced in recent months to reform student visas and restrict the number of family members who can move here will begin to push numbers down. But Mr Miliband refused to endorse that approach – despite evidence that the huge influx of immigrants in recent years has left health, education and social services stretched. He said: ‘I am not going to do what the Government does. I am not going to make a blanket promise about numbers. The answer to numbers is it depends who is coming in and what they are coming here to do. 'On low skill migration I think numbers are probably still too high. I’d like to do something about it. But most of that is from within the EU because we have tightened up the other routes.’ Mr Miliband proposed new measures to prevent Britons being ‘locked out’ of jobs by foreign workers, including forcing firms to declare if they employ high numbers of immigrants. Labour would ban employment agencies that only use foreign workers and job centres would have to be informed of firms employing more than one in four staff from overseas. Mr Miliband distanced himself from the rhetoric of his predecessor Gordon Brown, saying: ‘I am not going to promise “British jobs for British workers”.’ He also said worrying about immigration ‘does not make people bigots, not in any way’, a reference to Mr Brown’s rebuke, during the 2010 general election, of pensioner Gillian Duffy, who he dismissed as a ‘bigoted woman’ after she raised concerns with him about immigration. Changes: Mr Miliband proposed new measures to prevent Britons being 'locked out' of jobs by foreign workers, including forcing firms to declare if they employ high numbers of immigrants . In a reference to the last Labour government, Mr Miliband added: ‘We too easily assumed those who worried about immigration were stuck in the past, unrealistic about how things could be different, even prejudiced. ‘But Britain was experiencing the largest peacetime migration in recent history, and people’s concerns were genuine. To those who lost out, Labour was too quick to say “Like it or lump it”.’ Sir Andrew Green, of Migrationwatch, said: ‘What was missing from his speech was an appreciation of the scale immigration has reached. It’s running at 250,000 a year. That is going to add  millions to our population in 15 years.’ Immigration Minister Damian Green said: ‘Until Ed Miliband supports the Government’s measures to cut and control immigration, Labour will have no credibility. Under his leadership, Labour have opposed our aim to get annual net migration down to the tens of thousands, and they have opposed the cap on economic migration, our changes to student visas and our reforms to family visas.’ Lesson from the past: Gordon Brown speaks in 2010 to resident Gillian Duffy, who he dismissed as a 'bigoted woman' after she raised concerns about immigration .
plans to combat immigration from within the tackle the greater scale of migration from outside the EU. The Labour leader offered no immigration, which is still running at 250,000 a