Peers' inquiry calls for cap on number of immigrants

Published on Tuesday 1 April 2008 10:23

PEERS today dismissed the Government's claim that immigration is good for the economy and called for the numbers entering the country to be capped.

A parliamentary inquiry, including former Chancellors Nigel Lawson and Norman Lamont and several other Cabinet ministers, delivered a blow to the Home Office by concluding that record immigration had led to "little or no impact" on economic well-being.

Certain groups in Britain – the low-paid, some ethnic minorities and some young people looking for a foot on the job ladder – may have suffered because of competition from immigrants, the committee said.

Ministers should set an "explicit target range" for immigration and set the rules to keep within that limit, today's report said. It raised the prospect of cutting the number of partners and other family members allowed to settle in Britain because a relative is already here.

The peers rejected the Government's claim that immigration is needed to prevent labour shortages as "fundamentally flawed".

They also warned that the much-trumpeted new points-based immigration system carried a "clear danger of inconsistencies and overlap".

Lord Layard, a committee member and leading economist, said: "We are suggesting that the Government should set a target range for net immigration and then the rules should depend on the target range, rather than the numbers following from the rules as at present.

"You would have the scope to vary the scale of net immigration by varying the rules, by choosing how tight the rules should be."

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 this a wise thing to do? That is why we want the Government to look at it."

Responding to the report, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne pledged to put national interests "centre stage".

Mr Byrne said the inquiry confirmed immigration added about 6 billion to the economy UK in 2006.

"What it is also saying, though, I think, is that we should be taking into account the wider impact of immigration when we set immigration policy – now I think that is absolutely right," he said.

Mr Byrne added that the report was "fresh evidence" of "why we need the shake-up we are driving through this year" such as the new Australian-style points system being introduced.

Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, head of migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: "Putting caps on economic migration will be counter-productive. The UK needs a flexible system of managing migration to respond to changing economic conditions."