Cameron must say to Europe that we are ready to take back control of our borders

It is Britain's poorest who suffer most from such high net migration

David Cameron is trying to change the terms of EU membership (AFP/Getty)

As expected net migration to this country has again reached a record high. This is immensely disappointing.

The most distressing factor here is that the government has no control whatsoever over the numbers of people migrating here from Europe. 269,000 did so over the past year – up by 56,000 on the year before, and who’s to say a further 56,000, or more, won’t do so in the year ahead?

How on earth can the government plan its health, housing, schools and transport budgets when it has no means of controlling how many people will come to live in this country and, of course, use these services?

And with three-quarters of the growth in employment over the last year being accounted for by foreign nationals, how can the government even begin contemplating a national productivity strategy to pay for higher real incomes for Britain’s workers?

Employers have little incentive to build up their capital stock to drive the increases in productivity that are necessary to pay for a National Living Wage. The nation’s open borders with Europe allow them instead to add cheaply to their labour stock – 42,000 Romanian and Bulgarian citizens officially declared themselves as migrating here to work over the past year, almost double the 22,000 in the previous 12 months.

No wonder the usual lazy suspects in the business lobby, who just want to add more workers instead of rethinking their capital plans, are calling for even fewer border restrictions. They’re not the ones losing out from mass immigration. It’s poor Brits working for low wages, or looking for work, who are dealt the roughest hand by the nation’s open borders.

Studies show that each 1 per cent increase in the share of migrants in the labour market leads to a 0.6 per cent decline in the wages of the poorest workers. Those at the top of the income distribution can look on the sunny side though. The same studies show that the wages of those at the top actually increase under the same circumstances as a result of higher profits.

The failure of this and previous governments to control the borders, not surprisingly, has made this issue a top priority for voters.

If the Prime Minister thinks he can conduct serious renegotiations with Europe and not say to our fellow members that we are seeking, even temporarily, full control of borders, then he’s on a different plane to the rest of us.

Failure to win this minimum requirement will mean no political party will ever be able to tell the British electorate that they can bring immigration under control, and deliver.

Instead it will continue to rise and rise, and poor Brits will continue to feel its harshest effects. Even some liberals who previously argued for open borders are now calling for a public inquiry on the means by which we control them.

Alongside the Prime Minister’s renegotiations, therefore, we need an urgent review to suggest what practical tools do we have at our disposal with which we can properly control the nation’s borders, and ensure our prosperity is shared fairly.