Committee Recommends Immigration Cap

A parliamentary inquiry has concluded that immigration should be capped.

The House of Lords committee denigrated the notion that immigration is of benefit to the economy.

It said that record levels of immigration have "little or no impact" on economic growth and that certain minority groups in Britain may have suffered because of the competition from immigrants.

Ministers oppose an annual cap but Conservatives say that they back a limit.

In response to the report, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said that "immigration is good for the UK", and ruled out the introduction of an annual limit.

Mr Brown told reporters at his monthly news conference: "Most people in the City of London know they have benefited substantially.

"Not just from the inward investment that's coming from international companies, but the number of key workers who are coming to join them and are making a huge contribution to the British economy.

"But we want to get the balance right between that and, of course, being sensible about the pressures in our economy."

In the report, 'The Economic Impact of Immigration', the peers, including two ex-chancellors and other Cabinet members, said that the government should have "and explicit target range" for immigration.

"The available evidence suggests that immigration has had a small negative impact on the lowest-paid workers in the UK and a small positive impact on the earnings of higher-paid workers."

Furthermore, the use of GDP as the measure of immigration's economic contribution was "irrelevant and misleading".

Inquiry chairman Lord Wakeham said: "Looking to the future, if you have got that increase in numbers and you haven't got any economic benefit from it, you have got to ask yourself is it a wise thing to do?"

Shadow home secretary David Davis welcomed the report and said: "We are delighted they say there should be an explicit target range for immigration through controls on non-EU applicants.

"This is a policy that we have been arguing for, for years and which the government has consistently rejected."

Immigration minister Liam Byrne was also positive about the report: "It proves were right to set up the independent Migration Advisory Committee to tell us which workers our new Australian-style points system should keep out or let in."

However, Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, Head of Migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research said the report was misleading.

"Recent immigration has brought immense benefits to the UK in terms of economic growth, increased competitiveness and the delivery of public services."

(DS)