Gordon Brown sought to dampen down the row over foreign worker numbers as he insisted the Government is taking steps to tighten up the system.
The Prime Minister outlined measures including an Australian-style points-based system for people coming in from outside the EU, ID cards for foreign nationals and counting people in and out of the country.
He added that the Government announced on Tuesday that restrictions would remain in force on Romanians and Bulgarians who want to work in Britain.
He told GMTV: "Over the next few months, we have decided on changes that will make the system work in such a way that people can be sure that we are taking the action that is necessary, and of course at the same time benefiting where we want to from the skills that people can bring to our country."
His remarks come as the Government is plunged into further confusion over how many foreign workers are in the country.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was "sorry" the Government got its figures wrong about the increase in foreign nationals since 1997, admitting it was "bad" that the error occurred, after it emerged 300,000 migrant workers were missed out of official figures.
Nearly a third of the 1.1 million arrivals were missed out of the original figures, meaning 40.7% of the 2.7 million jobs created since Labour came to power have gone to foreigners.
On Tuesday night the row intensified after the Conservatives uncovered figures showing there were 1.5 million people born overseas who were employed in the UK.
