[size=15pt][center]Britain to restrict immigration, minister says[/center][/size]

Saturday, October 18, 2008 | 8:40 PM ET

Britain is going to restrict immigration to preserve jobs for its citizens, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said in an interview published Saturday.

“If people are being made unemployed, the question of immigration becomes extremely thorny … It’s been too easy to get into this country in the past and it’s going to get harder,” the Labour government minister told the Times of London.

Britain's unemployment rate rose sharply, to 5.7 per cent, in the last quarter.

Britain, which admits about 200,000 immigrants a year, adopted a tougher points-based immigration system in February. "Only those with skills the country needs can come," Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said at the time.

Woolas said the government should train British citizens for those jobs.

Government ministers had welcomed more immigration earlier this year.

Smith said that "migrants benefit this country economically, contributing an estimated £6 billion [about $12.3 billion] to our national output, as well as socially and culturally."

And in June, Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform Stephen Timms, commenting on a report on migrants from Eastern Europe, said: "These migrants have not taken jobs away from British workers and have not impacted on wages."

The opposition Conservatives have been pushing to cut immigration substantially below the 200,000 figure.

Labour MP and former minister Frank Field welcomed the policy change. "We shouldn't grow the population by immigration," he said.

Canada admits about 250,000 immigrants a year, and expects 240,000 to 265,000 in 2008, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Diane Finley said in October 2007.

It's not known if Finley will remain in the immigration portfolio when Prime Minister Stephen Harper's new cabinet is sworn in.

CBC News

[size=15pt][center]Labour 'floundering' on migration[/center][/size]

The government is "floundering around" on UK immigration because it believes the issue is an "electoral liability", the shadow home secretary has said.

Dominic Grieve spoke out after the government said the number of migrants entering via the points system may have to be cut owing to the economic crisis.

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas told the Times immigration became "extremely thorny" if people were losing jobs.

The Tories have urged the government to show how they would deliver the plans.

Mr Woolas said the government would not allow the UK population to pass 70 million.

He said setting a population policy - which would be a first for Labour - would enable the government to set a limit on migration.

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Woolas, who became immigration minister earlier this month, told the Times: "It's been too easy to get into this country in the past and it's going to get harder.

"There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving."

Tougher immigration policies would also require getting the British "back to work", for example with more retraining for the unemployed, he said.

Mr Grieve said Labour were matching Tory policies on setting immigration limits.

But he insisted it needed to be "carefully explained".

"The government hasn't got to grips with this issue at all, and that they're floundering around because they know it's now become a serious electoral liability."

He added: "Tough talk is simply not enough, they must now explain how they intend to deliver."

'Powerful controls'

The government recently introduced a new points-based system to attract migrants from outside the EU to certain jobs.

The Home Office said the UK's new system provided "a powerful and flexible set of controls" which allowed it to "raise or lower the bar" according to needs.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the population grew by nearly two million to 60,975,000 people between 2001 and 2007.

Various official projections predict this to rise to 77m in 2051 or 110m in 2081.

BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins said it was significant Mr Woolas had quoted an upper limit for the UK population.

The government had previously shied away from setting a "population policy" because it was difficult for ministers to explain how it would be managed, he said.

This is because immigration from inside the EU cannot be controlled, and neither can a limit be placed on genuine claims for asylum.

Former Labour minister Frank Field, a member of a cross-party group on immigration, welcomed Mr Woolas's comments.

The MP for Birkenhead said when the country was moving into a recession the immigration policy suitable for a boom was unsuitable.

He said the key was to "break the link" between people coming to the UK to work and gaining citizenship, which increased the population.

'Distorted picture'

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch, which argues for balanced migration, told BBC Five Live Mr Woolas's remarks showed a significant development in the immigration debate.

"This is the very first time that a government minister has recognised the link between immigration and population," he said.

But the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, Keith Vaz, said he disagreed with Mr Woolas.

A Labour government had never supported a quota for immigration, he said, adding that the points-based system was based on needs of the economy and not numbers.

He said the government should avoid providing a vehicle for the "distorted picture the far right will want to portray".

Keith Best, chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, said immigration quotas were not workable in a modern trading economy.

"What are you going to say to the employer who is desperate to fill a job, but can't find anyone suitable in the European economic area?" he said.

"Are you going to say 'sorry, the quota has been filled, you'll have to wait till next year'?"

Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem's home affairs spokesman, said it was surprising the issue was being considered now, when many immigrants were returning home because of the financial crisis.

"I do find it rather worrying that Labour and the Conservatives seem to be opening up this debate now at a time when traditionally people have looked for scapegoats in immigrant communities for economic problems, and in fact exactly the opposite is the case.

"The people who get the hardest hit first are often migrant communities."

BBC News

same old re-cycled 'campaign strategy' in EU

when election time comes; they use 'immigrants' to score cheap political points.

Good reason not to consider becoming an immigrant at all , (talk less of being illegal ) in this stupid plastic country.