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Net migration to Britain hits new record, putting pressure on Cameron

British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a news conference after the European Union leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium in this June 26, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Darren Staples/Files

By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - Net migration to Britain has hit a new record high, official data showed on Thursday, with a rise in the number of European Union citizens likely to pile pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of a vote on Britain's membership of the bloc. The Office for National Statistics said net migration to Britain was 336,000 in the year to June, up from 254,000 a year earlier, an embarrassment for Cameron, who promised in 2010 to reduce the annual level to below 100,000. Cameron is seeking to renegotiate the terms of Britain's relationship with the EU ahead of a referendum by the end of 2017. He has pledged to try to win back some control over the number of people coming to Britain amid voter concerns about the strain on public services. Thursday's figures showed the net arrivals of EU citizens, who are entitled to move freely within the bloc, had risen by 42,000 to 180,000 in the year to June. Just over 60 percent of immigrants from EU countries arriving for work-related reasons said they had a job to go to, the ONS said. Cameron has said he wants to limit EU migrants' access to welfare payments, and to have the power to remove them if they are unable to find work within six months. EU officials have highlighted Britain's demands on immigration as the most problematic in the renegotiation, warning that they jar with basic EU treaty law barring discrimination against EU citizens on national grounds. Cameron's immigration minister, James Brokenshire, told Sky News: "The prime minister remains committed to renegotiation on dealing with those pull-factors, the welfare issues, the in-work benefits that we judge are making people come to this country from the EU." With regard to non-EU migrants, Brokenshire said the government was trying to make sure students did not overstay their visas, and to make sure Britons had the skills that employers needed. Nigel Farage, the leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party, said Thursday's figures showed Cameron's pledge to reduce net migration was "in tatters" and that immigration could only be controlled if Britain left the EU. "Just how can this or any government plan effectively for the future with our population rising so quickly, and with open borders meaning we have no control over who can and can't come to Britain each year? A complete open door to the whole of the EU is madness," he said. (Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Kevin Liffey)