Squirming Yvette Cooper repeatedly dodged questions over her views on migrant visa caps.

The Home Secretary was asked numerous times whether she supported the removal of annual limits on work visas and international students.

Former Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, in 2018, announced the new points-based immigration system and scrapped the Tier 2 general work visa.

And Labour created an attack advert highlighting a clip from Kemi Badenoch, also from 2018, where she stated: “I’d like to thank the Home Secretary for removing the annual limits on work visas and also on international students, both of which I lobbied for.”

Asked to explain the advert, Ms Cooper said: “So we’ve seen the big increase in the figures that was set out in the figures last week, that net migration had quadrupled under the Conservatives.

“That was the opposite of what the previous Government promised.”

Mr Webb then interjected: “But did you support or oppose those measures from Kemi Badenoch?”

The Home Secretary continued: “One of the things that they did was they was they had a big change to the points based system.”

The BBC Radio 4 presenter tried again: “Those two things you put in your advert, did you support them or oppose them?”

But Ms Cooper claimed: “Well, what we set out, we said what we needed to have was a properly controlled and managed migration system.

“We weren’t in charge. We weren’t in Government so we had to just respond to the changes that were made.

“When we could see the impact that some of the changes were having, and we didn’t support a massive increase in overseas recruitment, we said you needed to have proper training in the UK and you needed to make sure that we had proper standards in employment.

“All the way through this period, we said what we should be doing is having training, we should be supporting the UK workforce, because we’ve always had people coming to the UK to work in our public services, set up businesses, that has always been important.”

Mr Webb then asked: “People will then wonder why there is no target for net migration?”

But the line then dropped, and the interview was called to an end.

Sir Keir Starmer’s reset plan will not include any net migration targets, it is understood.

Labour sources defended the approach by arguing they are already targeting lower net migration and small boat crossings.

Net migration hit an “astonishing” new record of 906,000 last year, heaping more pressure on housing, schools and GP surgeries.

Sir Keir has been warned Britain’s immigration crisis has led to “immense and lasting harm”.

The Office for National Statistics said net migration to the UK hit 906,000 in the year to June 2023, amid an influx of foreign students, a spike in non-EU workers, particularly in the health and social care sectors and the introduction of the Ukraine and Hong Kong refugee visa schemes.

But there was a glimmer of good news as the figures fell by 20 per cent in the year to June 2024 – to 728,000.

This was down to restrictions imposed on overseas students and care workers and an increase in the minimum salary threshold, experts said.

Analysis shows migrants from India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Zimbabwe made up the top five nationalities from outside the EU.

Former Home Secretary James Cleverly banned foreign care workers and students from bringing their family members with them.

And Mr Cleverly increased the minimum salary threshold needed to secure a work visa to £38,700.

Migrants must also earn £29,000 before they can bring their partners to the UK, under the changes.

The changes were predicted to bring net migration down by 300,000.

Analysing the figures, migration expert and Conservative MP Neil O’Brien warned that only “500,000” visas issued to 3.1 million people were to work in the UK.

But Sir Keir sensationally blamed Brexit for Britain’s “astonishing” immigration crisis.

The Prime Minister accused the Conservatives of using the historic decision to quit the bloc to “liberalise immigration” and conduct an “open borders experiment”.

Sir Keir claimed in a Downing Street press conference: “Time and again the Conservative Party promised they would get the numbers down. Time and again they failed, and now the chorus of excuses has begun.”

He added: “A failure on this scale isn’t just bad luck, it isn’t a global trend or taking your eye off the ball, no this is a different order of failure.

“This happened by design, not accident.

“Policies were reformed deliberately to liberalise immigration, Brexit was used for that purpose to turn Britain into a one nation experiment in open borders.”

Sir Keir vowed to overhaul Britain’s immigration system in a bid to reduce reliance on foreign workers.

“We will publish a white paper imminently, which sets out a plan to reduce immigration.

“The migration advisory committee is already conducting a review and where we find clear evidence of sectors that are overreliant on immigration, we will reform the points-based system and make sure that applications for the relevant visa routes, whether it’s the skilled worker route or the shortage occupation list, will now come with new expectations on training people here in our country.

“We will also crack down on any abuse of the visa routes.

“For far too long, we’ve been casual about malpractice in our labour market, which sends a clear signal overseas that we’re a soft touch.

“Well, no more – our rules will be enforced.

“Any employers who refuse to play ball, they’ll be banned from hiring overseas labour.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said there has been an “overreliance” on recruiting from abroad as an “easy answer”.

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Asked if he was promising “British jobs for British workers” with plans to expect firms that apply for certain visa routes to also train people domestically, Sir Keir said: “For too long we’ve had this overreliance on the easy answer of recruiting from abroad, and that’s got to change. And it’s a two-way street.

“We want to support employers. Of course we do. We want to grow the economy, and I don’t want to make it more difficult for businesses.

“But at the same time, and as I’ve said to them previously, they have to be involved in ensuring we’ve got the skills we need in this country, in the places that we need them.

“That will come partly by devolving skills, getting more employers and local representatives involved in the skills strategies that we need.

“And so, you know, it is right that we have the skills available to people who live here, the opportunities that they want to develop their working lives and give the employers the skills that they need near them for the jobs that they need doing.”