Government plans cap on non-EU immigration

Immigration to Britain from outside the EU is to be capped, under plans in the Queen's Speech today.

The issue was one of the key areas of disagreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats before they formed the coalition.

Nick Clegg's party had wanted a regional points-based system, but eventually conceded that the Tory manifesto pledge should stay in the Government's programme.

In today's address, the monarch said: "My Government will limit the number of non-European Union economic migrants entering the UK and end the detention of children for immigration purposes."

Notes attached to the speech set out the coalition's ambition for net migration to be "tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands".

Although the UK needs to attract the "brightest and the best", immigration "is too high".

"In the long-term we should up-skill British workers so that we do not need as many economic migrants to fill jobs," the briefing added.

Final decisions on the level of the annual limit and how it will be implemented will be taken after consultation with business and "other interested sectors".

Immigration Minister Damian Green will also lead a review of how to end the widely-criticised practice of detaining children for immigration purposes, which will put forward proposals in the coming months.