Britain is now a "borderless" country, Nigel Farage claimed after figures showed net migration is at an all time high.

The Ukip leader said regaining control of inflows must be part of efforts to renegotiate the UK's relationship with the EU.

He said: "These figures reflect Borderless Britain and the total impotence of the British Government.

"If open borders are not part of the Cameron renegotiation then what's the point of it?"

Mr Farage also suggested the true number of people arriving could be higher.

"Given 192,000 from Romania and Bulgaria registered for National Insurance in the year period, how can we believe the ONS figure of 53,000 from the same two countries in the same year?"

Don Flynn, director of Migrants Rights Network, a charity, attacked the Government's new immigration Bill.

He added: "We now know that policy changes introduced over the last five years had no substantial effect on the numbers and the forthcoming policy proposals which will be included in the Bill the Government intends to put forward in a few weeks are no different.

"There is broad consensus that the net migration target is extremely unhelpful and shouldn't guide future policy.

"The Government now needs to decide where it wants to go in the future. Does it want for Britain to be an outward facing country which welcomes students, workers and family members from abroad, or does it want to close off from the rest of the world in the chase after an arbitrary figure?"

Sunder Katwala, director of thinktank British Future, said: "Voters realise that controlling immigration isn't easy - but they do at least expect the Prime Minister to have a plan to meet the target he's set.

"Unlike the long-term plan for economic recovery on which he was re-elected, his big problem on immigration is that the Prime Minister has never had a credible plan to meet this target.

"These figures have got to be a wake-up call that a new approach is needed. With the Lib Dems out of government, the PM has run out of excuses."

Marley Morris, of the thinktank IPPR, said there is little prospect of the target of reducing net migration to below 100,000 being met in the near future.

He said: "Rather than focusing its energy on an unrealistic goal and so continuing to aggravate public concerns, the Government should address the impacts of high levels of immigration in communities feeling pressures."

Stephen Hale, chief executive of the charity Refugee Action, said asylum applications to the UK "remain fairly low by European standards".

He said: "Germany expects to receive around 30 times more asylum applications this year than the UK received in the last 12 months. Our treatment of people seeking asylum is a litmus test of the compassion of our society.

"Our asylum system must be shaped by the needs of those seeking safety in this country from war and persecution, not an arbitrary net migration target. The UK can and should treat them as human beings not statistics.

"We must support everyone in our asylum system to receive a fair hearing, and enable those recognised as refugees to contribute to Britain."

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the figures show Mr Cameron "needs to stop the dishonesty over his failed immigration target and replace it with a sensible plan instead which properly separates immigration and asylum".

She added: "All his overblown rhetoric has achieved is a decline in public confidence as the electorate are faced with more broken promises."

Mr Farage was slapped down by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for claiming migration could be higher than reported because 192,000 Romanians and Bulgarians registered for National Insurance in the year period.

An ONS spokeswoman said the figures for National Insurance were not directly comparable as the immigrants could have been in the country for months or years before registering.

She said: "The National Insurance number registration statistics will also include short-term migrants and are not a direct measure of when a person immigrated to the UK, as those registering may have arrived to live in the UK weeks, months or years before registering."