Vote 2017: Tories stick to 'tens of thousands' immigration pledge in manifesto

The pledge to reduce net migration to tens of thousands will be included in the Conservative Party manifesto, Sky News can reveal.

Two Conservative sources have disclosed the target, originally set by David Cameron and retained by Theresa May, would continue to be party policy, despite hints by the Home Secretary at the weekend that it would not be retained.

Mr Cameron and Mrs May, who was then Home Secretary, repeatedly failed to deliver on the promise to bring net migration to under 100,000.

Under Mr Cameron's premiership, the level of net migration rose to a record 330,000, however, he and Mrs May steadfastly refused to abandon the target.

Ministers have refused to be drawn on whether the "tens of thousands" benchmark would be retained in the General Election manifesto.

Last month, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley told Sky News the immigration issue was "not about putting a number on it".

At the weekend, when asked whether the "tens of thousands" figure contained in the 2015 manifesto would be in the 2017 one, Home Secretary Amber Rudd said: "It's not going to be identical to the last one. We're setting it out for hopefully a five-year term.

"We've got a lot to think through to work out what's the best way to deliver on our priorities."

It led to speculation the Conservatives were preparing to drop the figure in favour of a promise only to reduce net migration to "sustainable levels".

The disclosure that the target will remain comes as UKIP outlines its "one in, one out" immigration policy, which will see the number of people coming to the UK cut from 600,000 a year to 300,000 a year, over five years.

Unveiling the policy at an event in central London, the party's leader, Paul Nuttall, said the Tories had failed to deliver on their promises.

He said that a city the size of Newscastle comes to the UK net every year and added: "This is clearly unsustainable and this is clearly unfair, particularly to inner city communities."

UKIP's immigration spokesman John Bickley accused the Tories of being "completely at sea" on the issue.

He said: "They know that last year's referendum result was driven in a large part by our country's desire to take back control of immigration but there is no will in the Tory Party to deliver this.

"Either they maintain their policy created by Theresa May of tens of thousands, a promise they have failed to deliver in seven years, or they drop it and admit that they have no intention to deliver what the country demands."