We don't need any more immigrants, says senior Labour adviser

Predicting unaffordable house prices and a risk of overcrowding, Lord Turner attacked Labour's "economically illiterate" case for mass migration.

He accused ministers of using arguments, knowing they do not stack up, to justify the influx of newcomers against a possible "racist backlash".

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Lord Turner is a former CBI director who headed Gordon Brown's Pension Commission.

His intervention is a blow to the Home Office, which has justified the unprecedented number of arrivals from overseas - increasing the foreign-born population by 865 a day - on economic grounds.

But Lord Turner said: "In general, the language of an absolute 'shortage' of workers, of a 'need' for immigrants to fill gaps in the labour market, plays little useful role in the immigration debate and in most cases is simply economically illiterate.

"If we had fewer immigrants, the average wage rate of an office cleaner might be a bit higher, and businesses would either pay the extra charge, clean the office less frequently or use more efficient vacuum cleaners.

"But we would not have some offices cleaned precisely as now and others not cleaned at all."

He added: "The idea that we 'need' higher fertility or immigration to cope with the burden of a rising dependency ratio is therefore simply wrong, a polemic argument rather than a reasoned and fact based contribution to the debate."

"We do not 'need' more babies or immigrants to support an ageing population. It is wrong to say we need more immigrants, and it is clearly wrong to say that everyone gains from immigration.

"The simple answer to the question, 'Do we need more immigrants and babies?', is therefore, 'No'."

Lord Turner, chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, said a stable, rather than increasing population, would be more favourable for residents.

He argued that welfare issues linked to a growing population, such as disappearing green spaces, housing shortages and transport congestion will have a greater impact than the economic benefits of immigration.

Warning that the English population could rise by 30 per cent by 2050, and by more in the South East, he said: "These are significant changes over just half a typical lifespan, with major implications for how crowded an already highly populated region will feel.

"Beyond 2020, as household fragmentation reaches a natural limit but the population continues to grow, population growth will be the predominant driver of house price rises, creating affordability problems for many new entrants to the housing market."

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "This is yet another authoritative argument for a policy of controlling immigration much more effectively.

"Lord Turner is right to point out the serious dangers of following the Government's current path."

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migrationwatch UK, said: "This is an extremely important intervention by a very influential figure.

"It is high time that the Government listened to the growing groundswell of opinion in favour of a better balance of migration."

The Home Office said migration contributed about £6billion to the economy in 2006, but that there "are wider impacts too".

The Migration Impacts Forum has been set up to provide independent advice on how migration affects communities, it added.

Lord Turner's comments were made to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, which is looking at immigration impact.