Immigrant figures are down by 60,000!

Council chiefs who must find the funds to provide services for foreigners arriving in the capital dismissed the claim as "inconceivable".

Despite an estimated 2,000 Eastern European migrants a week arriving on coaches at London's Victoria Station, a new counting method used by the Office of National Statistics reduces the estimated number living in the capital.

The ONS said the new method of calculation, called the Labour Force Survey, would produce more "robust estimates".

The LFS replaces the International Passenger Survey which only counted a sample of new arrivals at Heathrow and Gatwick who said they planned to stay for more than 12 months.

The new method is based instead on a random sample of houses. But critics point out that it does not pick up those staying in hostels, shared houses or sleeping rough.

In addition, the LFS only focuses on a sample of just 0.2 per cent of the UK's population - about 55,000.

Under the LFS system, the number of migrants living in London between 2002 and 2005 is said to have fallen by 60,000.

Last night the Conservatives said the change in counting merely highlighted how the Government has no idea who was coming and going into Britain. Immigration spokesman Damian Green said:

"When will this government learn that fiddling the figures doesn't fool anyone and is no substitute for effective action?

"Britain benefits from immigration but only if it's properly controlled. This means having an ex-plicit annual limit without which none of the Government's tough rhetoric will mean anything."

Westminster City Council blasted the new system as "a quick fix". According to the LFS, the number of immigrants living in that borough fell by 15,000.

Colin Barrow, the Tory-led council's deputy leader, said: "This does not match the reality of the situation on the streets."

He said it would have a devastating effect on the council's budget because it receives a sum of money for each immigrant living within its boundaries.

Using the new figures, Westminster would receive less money - yet would be forced to fork out the same amount on services, including housing, education and social services.

Councillor Barrow said: "It is simply not good enough to replace one poor method of assessing migration with another."

The LFS would "find" an extra 32,100 immigrants overall in England. But critics say this would still be a huge under-estimation and would affect the funding to hundreds of authorities.

For example, Liverpool would "lose" 11,000 migrants - and the funding for them. However, the LFS would recognise an extra 18,800 migrants in Leeds which would receive extra funding.

Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: "We have no greater confidence in these figures than we had before."