Ministers reject cap on immigration

The new cross-party parliamentary group on balanced migration is expected to call on the Government to slash the number of non-EU migrants who are allowed to stay in the UK permanently after their work permits expire.

They are expected to call for a policy of balanced migration, which would set a cap on immigration in line with the number of emigrants leaving the country, to maintain a stable population over time.

According to the Sunday Times, they will cite official figures suggesting that Britain will need to build seven new cities the size of Birmingham to house an estimated seven million incomers by 2031, and will argue that immigration is placing an intolerable burden on schools, transport, the health service and the environment.

They will argue that all but a tiny minority of the skilled foreigners from outside the EU coming to work here on new four-year work permits should leave as soon as their permits expire. Under the present system, most stay on and are allowed to settle permanently.

The group is to be led by Labour maverick Frank Field, who led the recent backbench rebellion over the 10p income tax rate, and Conservative former minister Nicholas Soames.

While recognising that the Government cannot stem the flow of incomers from the EU, the new group is expected to call on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to balance overall immigrant numbers with emigrants in order to stabilise UK population.

The creation of the group was welcomed by Conservatives. Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said: "We have always recognised that immigration is a subject of vital interest set in the context of the demographic pressures on this country. We have made our own proposals to set an annual limit on economic immigration, because we want to reduce the pressure on our public services which has been caused by the uncontrolled immigration levels of recent years."

But immigration minister Liam Byrne said that caps and quotas were not the answer. "Our tough new points system plus our plans for newcomers to earn their citizenship will reduce overall numbers of economic migrants coming to Britain, and the numbers awarded permanent settlement," he said.

"Crucially the points system means only the migrants with the skills Britain needs can come - and no more. Unlike made-up quotas, this stops Government cutting business off from the skills it needs when they need them. We've asked the new, independent Migration Advisory Committee to make sure we hear common sense on the new rules. We're looking forward to their report on where we need migrants and where we don't on Tuesday before the points system goes live in under three months time."