David Cameron said last night that the level of immigration to Britain was too high and placed unacceptable pressure on public services and housing.

The Conservative leader had previously been reluctant to speak on immigration, a subject that he believes Michael Howard mishandled during the last election.

Speaking on the BBC Two Newsnight programme, however, he said that he thought that the level of immigration “has been too high”.

He added: “I do think that people have a very real concern about levels of immigration and not because of different cultures or the colour of their skin. I think that people’s concern is about services. It’s the pressure on schools, pressure on hospitals, pressure on housing.

“It is important to understand that if your child is going into a reception class and suddenly 20 new kids turn up because lots more families have arrived then that is a big pressure.”

Mr Cameron’s need to win back traditional Conservative support is underlined by the results of a poll carried out by the Conservative Home website and given to The Times.

The survey of 1,274 Conservatives suggests that just 58 per cent are satisfied with his leadership and 41 per cent dissatisfied. Just 56 per cent believe that the party is on the right track.

In recent weeks the Conservative leader has shown an increased willingness to appeal to the party’s traditional voters. For example, he has made three interventions in eight days on crime.

The issue tops a list of subjects that Conservative supporters believe will be most important at the next election, according the poll. More than a quarter (27 per cent) chose crime, followed by social breakdown (26 per cent), immigration (11 per cent) and the NHS (10 per cent). Tax and Europe account for just 7 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.

The survey shows strong support for a Tory pledge to abolish inheritance tax first mooted last month by John Redwood. The tax is currently paid by just 6 per cent of voters but topped a list of levies that Tories would like to see cut. The poll suggested that 27 per cent wanted it reduced, significantly ahead of those who wanted a reduction in income tax (20 per cent) or council tax (18 per cent). By contrast just 16 per cent agreed that green taxes were vital to tackle climate change.

Tim Montgomerie, the website’s editor, said that the leader’s latest campaign was in tune with activists’ concerns. “The current focus on crime has connected Cameron with the Conservative Party’s core vote for arguably the first time in his leadership.”

In his interview Mr Cameron said that the Tories were ready to fight a general election if Gordon Brown called an early poll this autumn. He said that the party had “fire in its belly” and was looking forward to the contest.

He insisted that he would continue to occupy the political centre ground and rejected suggestions that his new harder line on law and order represented a shift to the Right.

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