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Brown rejects cap on immigration | Brown rejects cap on immigration |
(20 minutes later) | |
Gordon Brown says immigration is good for the UK and has rejected suggestions that an annual limit is needed. | |
The PM was responding to a report by a House of Lords committee saying record immigration had had "little or no" impact on people's economic well-being. | The PM was responding to a report by a House of Lords committee saying record immigration had had "little or no" impact on people's economic well-being. |
Mr Brown says the concerns raised are already being tackled by a new points based system that will only allow highly skilled workers into the UK | |
He said migration had added £6bn to the economy and was a "substantial income". | He said migration had added £6bn to the economy and was a "substantial income". |
Most British businesses who have faced labour shortages had benefited from being able to recruit more widely for skilled labour, he said. | Most British businesses who have faced labour shortages had benefited from being able to recruit more widely for skilled labour, he said. |
Citizenship fund | |
Speaking at his monthly news conference, he said the Australian-style points-based system would effectively "restrict the numbers of people who come into this country from outside Europe". | |
Most people who are proposing a cap are proposing a cap of only 20% of possible migrants into this country Gordon Brown | |
It would bar unskilled immigrants from outside the European Union, he said. | |
There would be a new citizenship fund, with people coming into the country being expected to contribute to the public services they use. | |
And there was more financial help for local authorities to enable them to deal with the influx. | |
Mr Brown conceded that it was important to get the balance right given "pressures on the economy". | |
But he said that gross domestic product per head had risen since 1997 from £13,900 to £22,840 in the last year. | |
'Balancing act' | |
"Most people in the City of London know they have benefited very substantially," he told reporters. | |
"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 on our economy." | |
Mr Brown said a cap on immigrants coming to the UK could only be applied to those outside the EU. | |
"Most people who are proposing a cap are proposing a cap of only 20% of possible migrants into this country," he said. | |
"And of course many of these people are the highly skilled workers who are important to the economy." |