Britain to slash immigration

                                       
A huge influx of foreign workers is threatening the economy by holding down wages, the head of the Bank of England warned yesterday. In a dramatic intervention, Mark Carney said high rates of immigration helped explain why pay rises had been subdued for several years. He said sluggish earnings were a key risk to the country's recovery from the worst recession in a century. The comments coincide with the release of figures showing a record 4.8million foreigners work in Britain.
Almost two million of them are from the European Union. Workers from Poland and other former Eastern Bloc countries have taken 942,000 jobs.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics are a fresh blow to the Government’s mission to slash immigration. David Cameron wanted to cut net migration to the tens of thousands but an official report before the election showed the annual influx had reached 300,000. However, buoyed by last week’s poll triumph, the Prime Minister is demanding that Brussels change the rules to allow him to slash the numbers coming to Britain.

Mr Carney’s remarks will be noted with interest in Westminster and Brussels because he has avoided the political arena since joining the BoE in July 2013. EU chiefs are desperate for Britain to vote to remain in Europe in the promised in/out referendum.

Speaking in public for the first time since the election, the Canadian bank governor said the UK labour force had ‘expanded significantly’ in recent years. This is partly explained by an increase in older workers and a willingness to work longer hours but Mr Carney also blamed ‘strong population growth partly driven by net migration’.