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The number of migrants coming to Britain must be curbed to control population growth, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has warned. Skip related content
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Migrant Influx 'Must Be Curbed'
He said increasingly tough economic conditions made immigration an "extremely thorny" issue.
And he said the Government would not allow the population to expand endlessly.
Speaking to The Times, Mr Woolas said: "If people are being made unemployed, the question of immigration becomes extremely thorny."
Mr Woolas appeared to signal a harder line approach to immigration than the points-based system introduced recently to attract migrants most valuable to the economy.
Suggesting the need for a new upper limit on numbers, he added: "This Government isn't going to allow the population to go up to 70 million.
"There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving."
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the population grew by nearly two million people to 60,975,000 between 2001 and 2007.
But Habib Rahman, of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, said: "This could drive a coach and horses through any notion of managed migration through the Government's new points-based system... on which it held long and detailed consultations before unveiling it as the answer to the country's economic needs."
A Home Office spokesman said: "The points based-system provides us with a powerful and flexible set of controls, allowing us to raise or lower the bar according to the needs of business and the country as a whole.
"Our tough new Australian 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."
The spokesman said the points system meant only the migrants "with the skills Britain needs can come - and no more".
"Had the points-based system been in place last year there would have been 12% fewer people coming in to work through the equivalent work permit route," he said
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