NIGEL Farage is setting out details of his plans to curb the numbers of immigrants settling in Britain, claiming the current system is "unsustainable, unethical and unfair".

The Ukip leader says his party would establish a migration control commission with a remit to reduce net migration into the UK.

In a keynote speech, he will call for future immigration to focus on highly-skilled workers and "our friends from the Commonwealth" as opposed to "low-skilled, Eastern European migration".

Ukip has made controlling immigration a major plank of its policy platform.

It points to opinion polls consistently showing the issue is among top concerns of the public, but it has had to fend off repeated accusations of racism by its critics.

Its proposals include an Australian-style points-based visa system which, it says, would ensure the right numbers of highly-skilled workers were able to enter the country while imposing a five-year moratorium on visas for unskilled workers.

Rules discriminating between European Union (EU) and non-EU nationals would be abolished, and those workers who qualified under the system would be issued with a visa valid for five years.

During that time, they would not be entitled to claim UK benefits and would be expected to take out health insurance.

After five years they would be entitled to apply for permanent leave to remain, provided they had not broken the law.

Mr Farage said: "The British public has acknowledged that they can't trust the other parties to be serious on immigration.

"Despite Mr Cameron's pledge, net migration is now up to 300,000 people per year. It is unsustainable, unfair and unethical.

"That's why Ukip has developed a policy focused around an Australian-style points-based system, led by a newly-formed migration control commission, tasked with bringing numbers down and focusing on highly-skilled migrants and our Commonwealth friends - as opposed to the low-skilled, Eastern European migration that the Tories and Labour have expanded."