DAVID Cameron will today set out his long-awaited proposals for a crackdown on immigration as the Conservatives attempt to outflank Ukip.
But the Prime Minister suffered a major blow on the eve of what has been billed as a major speech, when new figures suggested his previous efforts had failed.
Official statistics show that net migration is higher now than when the Tories came to power, despite Mr Cameron's pledge to slash numbers dramatically.
The Prime Minister is under intense pressure from within his own party over the issue, following two successive by-election defeats to Ukip.
Later today he will set out plans to try to curb immigration from the EU.
Ukip and a number of Tory MPs have railed against European Union rules which mean that ministers cannot prevent EU migrants entering the UK.
But the latest figures show that migration from outside the EU is also increasing.
There was a net flow of 260,000 migrants in the year to June, up from 182,000 the previous year.
In total the figure is 16,000 higher than it was in the year to June 2010, when David Cameron replaced Gordon Brown as Prime Minister.
A total of 583,000 people moved to the UK in the last year, up from 502,000 over the previous 12 months.
Migration from inside the EU rose by 45,000, while from outside it climbed by 30,000.
The rise is all the more embarrassing given the Conservatives' heavy criticism of Labour's approach,
Mr Cameron was elected with a pledge to cut numbers from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands.
Earlier this week the Home Secretary Theresa May admitted that the government was "unlikely" to meet its pledge.
But last night No 10 said that the target remained the Mr Cameron's "ambition".
Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Cameron had "spectacularly broken the promise he made to the British people".
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