Immigration 'small benefit' to UK

Record levels of immigration have had "little or no impact" on the economic well-being of Britons, an influential House of Lords committee has said, reported The BBC.

It says competition from immigrants has had a negative impact on the low paid and training for young UK workers, and has contributed to high house prices.

The peers want a limit on immigration levels - a view backed by the Tories.

Minister Liam Byrne says migration has added £6bn to the economy and a points system is preferable to a cap.

In their report, The Economic Impact of Immigration, the peers said the government "should have an explicit target range" for immigration and set rules to keep within that limit.

They raised the prospect of cutting the rights of people to follow relatives who have settled in the UK.

And they rejected claims by ministers that a high level of immigration was needed to prevent labour shortages as "fundamentally flawed".

The peers also warned that the government's new Australian-style points-based immigration system carried a "clear danger of inconsistencies and overlap".

The Lords Economic Affairs Committee, whose members include two ex-chancellors and other Cabinet members, took eight months to consider government immigration policies.

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 that a wise thing to do?

"That is why we want the government to look at it."