In David Cameron's speech today, he will talk about an why the UK needs an immigration cap. However, like most politicians, he may be missing the point; and the only true way to cut immigration is by leaving the EU. The debate on the EU is a long and draw out one, and so I will say nothing more than that leaving the EU isn't an option and most people realise this.
As a member of the EU, we have no right to stop workers from other EU states from working here, in the same way that they have no right to stop British workers working in their states, and as the majority of UK immigrants are from within the EU; we can't stop the majority of immigration. This leaves the government's immigration cap looking like a policy which merely exists to keep the right of the Tory party happy, the focus needs to be on the effects that immigration has on the UK, and solving the problems caused by it. Prevention may be better than the cure, but when you can't prevent something, you need to put your efforts into curing it.
If government (and lets face it, the tory half of the collation) want to stop immigration then the only way to do so appears to be making the UK an unattractive place to come and live and work. However, as racism has, rightly, become unacceptable, this would mean making the UK unattractive to all workers, including British workers, and that won't win you an election.
So governments (and I stress the plural as it has been a problem for many administrations) find them selves stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to immigration. It may be an easy vote winner, however putting words into action is not so easy and this debate will rumble on until someone takes over the world so we all become one country. (I wonder what Ban Ki Moon gets up to in his spare time?)
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