British Premier Plans Tougher Stance as Anti-Immigration Sentiment Grows British Premier on Curbing Immigration As a general election neared in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron said the country must be able to control immigration while it upholds the idea of freedom of movement within the European Union. Video by Reuters on Publish Date November 28, 2014. Photo by Oli Scarff/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images. LONDON - With his eye on a general election just five months away, Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday sketched out proposals to make Britain less attractive to immigrants that, he acknowledged, would require tough negotiations with European Union partners and changes to union treaties. In a speech delivered in a factory in Staffordshire, in the English Midlands, Mr. Cameron said that if re-elected, he would move to stop immigrants from the European Union from claiming welfare assistance, including social housing and child benefits, in their first four years in Britain. In trying to sound tough on immigration, Mr. Cameron hoped to blunt intense criticism from within his own Conservative Party and from the anti-Europe, anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party, which has threatened his chances of remaining prime minister in the election set for May 7. Those critics seized on government figures released this week showing that net immigration over the year from June 2013 was 260,000, up from 182,000 over the same period the year before, despite pledges from Mr. Cameron to get it down to "tens of thousands" a year. On Friday, Mr. Cameron backed away from proposing an outright cap, or quota, on the number of immigrants Britain would accept from fellow nations of the European Union, which his European partners have made clear is unacceptable. But Mr. Cameron did say they should not be allowed to take advantage of government help for low-wage workers. He pledged to prevent immigrants from receiving child benefit payments if their children live outside Britain. Before they arrive, he said, they should have firm job offers, and if they do not find work within six months, they should leave. Citizens of any new member state of the European Union, he said, should not be allowed to work in Britain until the economies of their countries grow to become more similar to those of other members. Such measures would have to be negotiated with the bloc, however, and if Britain enacted such changes unilaterally, the rules would most likely be challenged in the European Court of Justice. Critics in the Conservative Party and the U.K. Independence Party argue that the best way to control immigration from Europe is for Britain to leave the bloc altogether, which Mr. Cameron says he does not want. He has already promised that if he remains prime minister, he will negotiate a "new deal" for Britain with a skeptical European Union and then hold a referendum on membership in 2017. Mr. Cameron has tried not to set out too many specific commitments from his European counterparts, for if he does not succeed in securing them, he will be under increased pressure to push for a British exit from the bloc. Britain has proved an attractive place for Europeans, particularly from Italy and Spain, to find jobs while their home countries suffer from the effects of the financial crisis and from stagnant growth in the eurozone. The flexible British labor market has also drawn young people from newer members of the European Union, like Bulgaria, the Baltic countries and Romania. Mr. Cameron, having failed to convince European counterparts of the need to alter the principle of freedom of movement within the bloc, or that Britain needs to pull an emergency brake on European migration, has decided instead to make it less attractive for immigrants. Britain is not especially generous in its social benefits, but it is easier for new immigrants to qualify for them than in most European countries. Mr. Cameron said that immigration was a divisive topic all over Europe, and that overhauls would be good for the bloc as a whole. "It is contributing to a corrosion of trust in the European Union, and the rise of populist parties," he said. While negotiations would most likely be difficult, he said, "I say to our friends in Europe: It's time we talked about this properly." He promised once more to push for an overhaul of the European Union, saying that "this issue of free movement will be a key part of that negotiation." If successful, he said - without defining success - he would campaign to keep Britain in the bloc. While some of Mr. Cameron's critics in the Conservative Party have urged him to say that he would push for Britain to leave the union if negotiations failed, that is a step Mr. Cameron has not been willing to take so far. On Friday, he also praised immigrants, saying, "We are Great Britain because of immigration, not in spite of it." As an island nation, Britain lives off trade and its "openness," he said. In answering questions, he also acknowledged that more than half the number of net migrants coming to Britain were from outside the European Union. While the government can much more easily control immigration from outside the European Union, many arrivals from other regions are students who pay fees to British universities or are highly educated professionals whose talents are needed in the growing economy. Figures show that immigrants pay considerably more in taxes to Britain than they receive in benefits. But what upsets many Britons is the large number of low-skilled migrants coming to take low-paying jobs that many Britons will not fill. One recent controversy in Britain concerned a company that makes sandwiches early every morning for big grocery chains. The company, Greencore Group, was seeking Hungarians to work in its new facility because it could not find enough Britons willing to take such repetitive, low-paid jobs. Is there no one left in Britain who can make a sandwich? The Daily Mail asked on its front page. That is the kind of question no politician can answer.