War over immigration: Top Tory vents fury at European Union chief who slapped down Cameron's bid to close the borders as 'illegal'

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A bitter war of words broke out today over David Cameron's plan to cap the number of immigrants moving to Britain from Europe. 

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said it was 'quite clear' that restrictions on foreign workers would be illegal under EU law and said the matter was not up for negotiation.

Tory chairman Grant Shapps reacted furiously to Mr Barroso’s remarks. He said: ‘It’s extraordinary for an unelected bureaucrat to dismiss Britain, which will be the second largest economy in Europe next year. I think he is out of touch with the main stream public opinion in Britain.’ 

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Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, poured cold water on Tory plans to restrict EU immigration into the UK

Grant Shapps, Conservative Party Chairman,  said Mr Barroso was 'out of touch with the main stream public opinion in Britain'

Mr Cameron has pledged to make immigration reform the centrepiece of his planned renegotiation of Britain's relationship with Brussels ahead of an in-out EU vote in 2017.

Plans are being drawn up to slash EU migration by imposing an annual cap on the number of national insurance numbers given to immigrants, it was reported this morning.

Under Mr Cameron's proposal migrants would only get national insurance number for a limited time – meaning they would find it harder to move to Britain permanently and claim benefits. Currently anyone from the EU can move to Britain and apply for a national insurance number.

Cabinet sources told The Sunday Times the cap will be a centrepiece of Mr Cameron's planned speech announcing his 'red lines' for immigration reform as the price of Britain staying in the EU.

Mr Cameron wants to set the cap to ensure net migration falls below 100,000 a year – the pledge he made at the last election. Net migration hit 243,000 in the year to March.

But Mr Barroso – the outgoing EU Commission President – dismissed the proposal out of hand this morning.

Mr Barroso said it was a 'clear' principle within the EU that everyone had the right to move for work

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Mr Barroso had made it 'crystal clear' that leaving the EU was the only way to get full control over immigration

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show he said: 'Any kind of arbitrary cap seems to me to be not in conformity with European rules because for us it's very important the principle of non-discrimination.

'The freedom of movement is a very important principle in the internal market, the movement of goods, of capital, of services and of people.'

He said the fundamental importance of free movement was 'quite clear'.

'In principle arbitrary caps seem to me in contradiction with European Union rules. That's quite clear from my point of view.'

Mr Barroso criticised Mr Hammond for saying the UK was 'lighting a fire' beneath the EU through the Tories' plans for an EU referendum.

'I am told that the Foreign Secretary was before the minister of defence and I think this reference to fire and weapons is more appropriate for defence than a foreign secretary.

'It's very important to have a positive tone regarding these issues between Britain and the European Union.'

David Cameron is working on plans to cap EU migration

But Mr Shapps dismissed the EU remarks. He said: ‘Barroso’s only the latest person from Europe to tell us we’ll never get what we want.

‘But remember, we were never going to get the rebate that Margaret Thatcher successfully got - we were never going to get to pull back powers but we’ve done that for a whole lot of competences; we were never going to get a cut in the EU budget, people said that was impossible, but David Cameron’s negotiated that. There are lots of impossible things that we’ve managed to do in Europe.”

Mr Shapps confirmed the Prime Minister would be setting out the Conservative plans to cut immigration in coming weeks. 

It comes after the PM launched a fresh effort to try to persuade would-be Ukip voters to back the Tories, warning that it would be a 'terrible irony' if voting for Nigel Farage's party let Ed Miliband take the keys to No 10.

The Prime Minister said voters should not be 'deceived' into thinking that it was anything other than a 'stark choice' between the Conservatives and Labour at the next election.

Next May's general election would be 'the most important for a generation', the Prime Minister said in an article for the Sunday Telegraph, telling voters it would be a straight contest between him and Mr Miliband to run the country.

In a message to wavering Tories, he said: 'Let no-one deceive you that there is a third way. A vote for Ukip is a vote for Labour.

'That much was proved in the recent by-elections. In Clacton, previously a Conservative seat, Ukip won. In Heywood and Middleton, Labour held their seat.

'And to those considering voting for Ukip on the issues of immigration and Europe, I would point you to our Conservative record.

'Non-EU migration is now at its lowest levels since the 1990s - and we are committed to putting EU migration right at the heart of our negotiations in Europe.

'That comes from the first British prime minister ever to veto an EU Treaty, get the European budget cut, and pull us out of the bail-out schemes that Labour signed us up to.

'We have also pledged to scrap Labour's Human Rights Act, ending the era of farcical human rights rulings handed down from Europe. And never forget: it is only the Conservative Party that is offering you that in-out referendum on Europe in 2017.

'There would be a terrible irony if people who care about these issues voted Ukip - making a Labour Government more likely.'

The Prime Minister warned that letting Mr Milband into No 10 would result in a 'great nation slipping back into decline', with households facing rising mortgage bills and jobs being moved overseas.

He said: 'A Labour Britain hardly bears thinking about. Imagine: the international markets wincing as the British government racks up more debt; interest rates and mortgage rates going up; businesses crushed under punishing taxes; jobs leaving our shores; the unions back in Downing Street; diktats and bureaucratic schemes raining down on our schools and hospitals; the sense of a great nation slipping back into decline.'

Shadow immigration minister David Hanson said: 'Why should anyone believe the Prime Minister when he has a record of making big promises on immigration and not delivering, when everyone knows he wants headlines for the Rochester and Strood by-election, and when the briefing from the Government keeps changing every couple of days?'