The British government is to propose an Australian-style points system for migrant workers as it looks to regain the upper hand on the immigration issue before an expected May election.
Prime Minister Tony Blair is on track for victory, but a poll yesterday showed an attack by the Conservatives on what they call a shambolic asylum and immigration system had struck a chord with the public.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair
The Labour government will unveil plans today for a points scheme for migrants to screen out unskilled workers and will announce fresh efforts to deport bogus asylum seekers.
"Controlled migration is beneficial to Britain," Mr Blair wrote in an article for Monday's London Times. "However populist it may be, shutting it down would be clearly irresponsible and very quickly deeply damaging to our economy."
Mr Blair said Britain needed to clamp down on those who abuse the system, such as students who apply for non-existent courses.
"We need as well to stop random chain migration - dependants upon dependants; to prevent or penalise sham marriages; to have the power to demand special requirements if applications from particular countries rise significantly; to get after the organised crime that trafficks in people."
The Conservatives hoisted immigration up the pre-election agenda two weeks ago, proposing a points system for workers, annual limits on immigrants and quotas for asylum seekers. They accuse Mr Blair of presiding over chaos.
In a poll in the Mail on Sunday, 70 per cent of people disagreed with Mr Blair that immigration was necessary because foreign workers are needed to perform jobs Britons are unable or unwilling to do.
The Mailsaid voters supported Conservative plans for annual quotas for immigration - a move Home Secretary Charles Clarke rejected in a BBC interview yesterday.
But Mr Clarke admitted he did not know how many immigrants or failed asylum seekers were living illegally in Britain.