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Immigration levels may still rise after Brexit, says David Davis

Brexit Secretary: David Davis said some industries depend on foreign workers: PA
Brexit Secretary: David Davis said some industries depend on foreign workers: PA

David Davis has refused to commit to a cap on EU citizens coming to the UK after Brexit, admitting immigration levels may need to rise "from time to time".

The Brexit Secretary gave the clearest indication yet that quitting the EU may not result in the dramatic fall in net migration many Leave voters desired.

Mr Davis said industries and public services dependent on migrant labour would need to be able to continue to recruit workers from overseas.

On a BBC One Question Time special ahead of Theresa May triggering Article 50 on Wednesday, starting the two-year countdown to Brexit, Mr Davis was asked if there would be a cap on "the number of EU nationals allowed in the UK".

He replied: "No, you see, what the first issue here is to bring this back under the control of the UK Government, the UK Parliament, to bring migration under control.

"I don't think most people oppose migration, I think most people are in favour of migration so long as it's managed. The point is, it will need to be managed."

It would be for Home Secretary Amber Rudd to decide how migration would be managed, but Mr Davis added: "I cannot imagine that the policy will be anything other than that which is in the national interest. Which means that from time to time we will need more, from time to time we will need less.

"That is how it will no doubt work and that will be in everybody's interests - the migrants and the citizens of the UK."

Asked whether that would mean more migration than current levels, he said: "What it will be is whatever the Government judges to be sustainable."

Pressed on whether the Tory target of reducing net migration to below 100,000 still applied, he said: "I think we will get there, but the simple truth is that we have to manage this properly. You have got industries dependent on migrants, you have got social welfare, the NHS, you have to make sure they can do the work."

Fellow Question Time panellist Alex Salmond, the SNP's international affairs spokesman, said: "Nurse registrations from Europe have dropped 75 per cent since Brexit. In a full year that will mean there will be 7,000 less qualified nurses from elsewhere in the EU working in our NHS."

Immigration was one of the major issues in the EU referendum, with Leave campaigners claiming the "open door" to the other 27 nations was putting the country's security at risk, driving down wages and putting pressure on the health service.