The Guardian.

The Conservatives' immigration cap is a control that seems to suit nobody

Condemned as pointless, arbitrary and only affecting a minority of UK migrants, Theresa May's plan seems more like a political ploy to show that the government is fulfilling a hardline pledge

 

Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The planned immigration cap will target less than 10% of UK net immigration.  On paper, it must have seemed a simple solution to a complex issue. The Conservatives, aware of the harm immigration did to the previous government's standing, assumed power resolved to play tough on the issue. Last Tuesday that proclaimed pugnacity was articulated in the unveiling of the immigration cap, a number chosen to placate long-standing demands to lower the volume of migrants. The home secretary settled for a maximum of 21,700 skilled workers from outside the European Economic Area. By the end of the week the home secretary, Theresa May, was doubtless wise to the one constant of the immigration debate: you can't please everyone any of the time. Her cap was described as misguided and pointless; experts questioned what difference it would make. Two days after it was announced, the government's own Office for National Statistics illustrated the difficulties in controlling immigration. Its figures revealed that 215,000 more people came to the UK than emigrated in the year to March 2010.  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/28/theresa-may-immigration-cap