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United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown - Source: Reuters -
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British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will address public concern
over immigration in a speech, acknowledging that many people fear
foreign workers are taking their jobs and putting strains on local
housing.
Steep rises in immigration over the past decade and a recession-led
climb in unemployment have boosted support for the far right and
fuelled charges Brown's Labour government has lost control of
Britain's borders.
The issue is set to be a factor in a general election due by June
next year, with the opposition Conservatives pledging they would
impose a cap on immigration from outside the European Union.
Labour ministers have long hailed immigration as benefiting the
economy.
But they have been accused of ignoring the worries of poorer
families who blame migrant workers for their problems in deprived
areas where jobs and social housing are scarce.
Those concerns have seen a rise in support for the anti-immigration
British National Party, which has scored gains in local council
polls and won two seats in June's European Parliament
elections.
Brown will say that immigration is neither an issue for fringe
parties nor a taboo subject.
"I have never agreed with the lazy elitism that dismisses
immigration as an issue, or portrays anyone who has concerns about
immigration as a racist," he will say according to extracts
released in advance.
"People worry about whether immigration will undermine their wages
and the job prospects of their children. They worry about whether
their grown-up children will be able to get housing anywhere near
them."
But he will also note that the arrival of overseas workers has been
welcome for many.
"If the main effect of immigration on your life is to make it
easier to find a plumber, or when you see doctors and nurses from
overseas in your local hospital, you are likely to think more about
the benefits of migration than the possible costs."
Brown will defend his government's policy of managed migration
through a points-based system introduced last year which restricts
visas for non-EU nationals to a limited range of professions
suffering recruitment difficulties.
He will hint at a tightening of these restrictions as the recession
eases.
"As growth returns, I want to see rising levels of skills, wages
and employment among resident workers, rather than employers having
to resort to recruiting people from abroad," he will say.
The number of non-EU nationals working in Britain has doubled since
Labour came to power in 1997, while migration from Eastern Europe
has far exceeded the government's initial estimates since controls
were eased in 2004.
Although Britain has tightened controls on workers from outside the
EU, it has little power to restrict migration from within the
27-nation bloc, most of whose citizens are free to come to Britain
to work.
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