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U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said he will put immigration from other European Union members at the center of talks with the 28-nation bloc in an attempt to stem the threat from the U.K. Independence Party.

We are committed to putting EU migration right at the heart of our negotiations in Europe, Cameron wrote in a Sunday Telegraph article published yesterday, appealing to voters to back his Conservative Party in a straight contest with Labour at next Mays general election.

A vote for UKIP, which gives unconstrained immigration from EU countries as one reason for leaving the club, would help Labour win the election, Cameron said. The prime minister pledged in 2013 that he would call an in-or-out referendum on the U.K.s membership of the EU in 2017 if he wins next years election. The government is currently seeking to renegotiate the terms of its relationship with the EU.

It is only the Conservative Party that is offering you that in-out referendum on Europe in 2017, Cameron wrote in the article. There would be a terrible irony if people who care about these issues voted UKIP -- making a Labour government more likely. They would vote for controlled immigration and get the Labour politicians who opened Britains borders.

Cameron plans to restrict immigration from the EU by limiting access to National Insurance numbers for low-skilled workers, the Sunday Times reported yesterday. The PM will include the cap in an upcoming speech setting out a tougher immigration policy, the newspaper said citing unidentified government officials.

When asked about the report, outgoing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said a limit on internal EU migration would contravene the clubs laws.

The freedom of movement is a very important principle in the internal market, Barroso, whose term ends Oct. 31, said in a television interview on the BBCs Andrew Marr Show yesterday. Any kind of arbitrary cap seems to me to be not in conformity with European rules.

The commission head warned the U.K. would have little influence globally if it left the political bloc.

Britain is stronger in the European Union, he told Marr. There is a willingness to accommodate the concerns of Britain, provided they are not incompatible to our overall agreed principles.

Cameron wants to reduce annual net immigration from 243,000 people in the year through March to fewer than 100,000 in 2015. He has promised tighter welfare rules for migrants and a block on people coming from countries that join the EU in the future.

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Cameron Puts Immigration at Heart of European-Union Talks