Prime Minister's Questions: Miliband attacks Cameron over 'broken' immigration promise

Ed Miliband attacked David Cameron over his "broken" promise to reduce net migration to the UK during Prime Minister's Questions.

"The prime minister said earlier this year, and I quote, 'woe betide the politician that makes big promises, and then says oh, sorry – I didn't really mean it.' Can he recall any time he might have done that?" the Labour leader said.

"Let me tell him the promises we've kept," Cameron retorted. "We promised to get the economy growing, it's the fastest growing in the G7.

"We promised to get unemployment down, we created 1.8 million jobs.

"We promised to make Britain a great place to start a business, there are 760,000 more businesses in this country.

"This government is a government that has made its commitments and as a result we have a plan that's working."

Miliband hit back at Cameron by bringing up the Conservative leader's manifesto pledge to reduce net migration to the UK to less than 100,000 by May 2015.

"Come to think of it he might have broken a big promise quite recently. Immigration down to the tens of thousands – no ifs, no buts," the leader of the opposition said.

"What did he say in his contract to the British people? If we don't deliver our side of the bargain, vote us out in five years' time. When he said it, did he mean it?"

Cameron stressed that he was sincere and that the last Labour government had increased immigration "deliberately".

"Yes, and we have cut immigration from outside the European Union (EU) by 24%," the prime minister said.

"But with immigration, every single step we have taken was opposed by the Labour Party over the last four years.

"What did they do for 13 years in government? They put immigration up as a deliberate policy."

The comments come after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that net migration rocketed to 260,000 in the year to June, up from 182,000 – a 42% hike and almost three times the prime minister's target.

The weekend before the announcement Home Secretary Theresa May conceded that immigration from EU countries to the UK had "disrupted" the government's efforts to reduce net migration and said it was "unlikely" the target would be reached by the end of this parliament.