The Conservatives would launch a drive to push for more highly qualified migrants to come to the UK, if they come to power.

Speaking at a Tory conference fringe meeting in Manchester, Shadow minister Damian Green said the party would keep the government’s points-based migration system, but place an overall annual limit on numbers.

It would also cut low-skilled migration.

According to a BBC report, Green said he wanted to achieve an immigration system as close as possible to the Australian system, which as well as having quotas for some professions also set targets for highly qualified migration.

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He said Britain was a global trading nation, and it was vital for future prosperity to attract more entrepreneurs and highly qualified graduates to the UK, rather than seeing them go to rival economies such as Japan or the US.

But he also added it was important to control immigration by imposing an overall cap on numbers to ease pressure on public services and social tensions.