MAIL Online: The economic benefits from record levels of immigration to Britain are 'small and close to zero', the Lords was told today.
A report by a committee of peers, including two former Chancellors and several former Cabinet ministers, called on ministers to set an 'explicit target range' for immigration and make rules to keep within that limit.
Tory former Cabinet Minister Lord Wakeham said the report by the Economic Affairs Committee, which he chaired, rejected the Government's claim that immigration is needed to prevent labour shortages as 'fundamentally flawed'.
He told peers the Government had said immigrants brought large economic benefits to the UK in boosting economic growth, filling job vacancies that Britons could not or would not do and paying more tax than British-born workers.
But there was no evidence of such benefits, which had been 'wildly overstated' by ministers.
In a debate on the report, Lord Wakeham said: 'The committee found no evidence of these large economic benefits.
'What we did find was serious flaws in the Government's arguments and we concluded that on average the economic benefits of immigration were small and close to zero.'
The report found 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.
It said ministers should set an 'explicit target range' for immigration and set the rules to keep within that limit.
And 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. >>> | November 14, 2008
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