While the U.K. should fulfill its "moral duty to help people in desperate need" there is "a limit to the amount of immigration any country can and should take," she said in a speech on Tuesday to members of the Conservative Party, who were meeting in this northwest English city for their main annual conference.
Ms. May's speech immediately drew criticism from industry and opposition politicians, who said she was putting the interests of internal party politics ahead of the interests of the country.
Ms. May's comments appear to mark a tougher stance on immigration than previous government remarks. Concerns about immigration in the U.K. have fuelled support for the U.K. Independence Party, which won more than 10% of the vote in the May general election with its tough-on-immigration message.
It is the center-right party's first conference since Prime Minister
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
fired the starting gun on a leadership race earlier this year when he said he wouldn't run for another term in office. He named Ms. May as a potential successor, along with U.K. Treasury chief George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Mr. Osborne, a close ally of Mr. Cameron's who has steered the government's plan to slash public spending, appears to be the current favorite, commentators say. In his speech to the party conference Monday, he made a play for the political center ground by positioning the party as the champion of the worker.
But the contest is likely to be at least a couple of years away, and Mr. Osborne faces potentially stiff competition, including from Mr. Johnson. The mayor, in his speech Tuesday, appeared to deliver a shot across the bow to the Treasury chief by saying the government when making welfare cuts needs to "protect the hardest working and lowest paid."