Home Secretary Theresa May said there could be fresh curbs on migrants access to benefits[REUTERS/GETTY]We still have that aim of the tens of thousands. But of course it has become more difficult and net migration is too high.
David Cameron is now said to be drawing up new immigration laws - which could be announced as early as next week, - including plans to block EU citizens from poorer countries coming to the UK.
And Home Secretary Theresa May today confirmed the Government is looking at a plan put forward by Iain Duncan Smith to halve the length out of time out-of-work EU nationals can claim benefits.
Appearing on BBC1's Andrew Marr Show, Mrs May also spoke out about "heated" rows with Liberal Democrat colleagues as the mainstream parties sought to beef up their stance to counter the growing electoral threat from Ukip.
"We still have that aim of the tens of thousands. But of course it has become more difficult and net migration is too high," she told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.
"That's why I want to continue working to bring it down.
"In those areas we can control - that is, immigration from outside the European Union - everything we have done as a Government has been having an impact."
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith [PA]Work and Pensions Secretary Mr Duncan Smith told the Sunday Times he wanted to introduce new laws this year to restrict benefit claims to three months.
The length of time EU migrants must wait before claiming has already been extended from three months to six, with the Tories and Labour indicating that period could be made longer still.
"You'll have to wait three months and you'll only be able to claim for three months. Then it's bye-bye. That's quite a significant tightening up," Mr Duncan Smith said.
Mrs May told the BBC: "We have been looking at various measures and we will continue to look at measures."
Asked about Mr Duncan Smith's plans, she said: "We will look at that timing.
"We haven't yet got agreement across the coalition to do that. But these are the sorts of measures we keep looking at because in immigration you can never stand still."
She went on: "It is no surprise to anybody that there have been some long-standing, possibly heated at times, discussions among the coalition on some of these issues of immigration."
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond labelled Ukip a protest party today [GETTY]This increase was from 158,000 to 201,000 year-on-year.
In total net migration – the number of people arriving compared to leaving – stood at 212,000 up from 177,000 the previous year.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: "David Cameron and Theresa May promised 'no ifs, no buts' they would cut net migration to the tens of thousands by the end of this Parliament.
"Yet four years into the Parliament the figures have been going up not down, and it is currently more than double their target.
"For the Home Secretary to keep making big pledges and failing to meet them undermines trust in the whole immigration system.
"Having lost so many votes and seats while their net migration target is failing badly, the Tories seem to be rushing for more headlines before they have policies worked out."
Restricting immigration from within the EU is one of Ukip's central policies, and Nigel Farage's party are expected to have done well in Thursday's European elections when the results are announced tonight.
But the party was dismissed as a "protest party" by a Defence Secretary Philip Hammond today, as he argued a significant number of "lender voters" would abandon Ukip and return to the Tory fold for the 2015 general election.
His comments came after former Tory leadership contender David Davis urged Mr Cameron to bring forward his promised EU referendum by a year to 2016 in a bid to persuade defectors to Ukip he is serious.
"The Conservative Party has to decide pretty soon where its blue lines are and make them very clear," he said.
"If we do not grasp this nettle, I can see the Ukip resurgence carrying all the way through to the general election."
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