David Cameron’s bold claims, which dominated media this past week, have been denounced by the JCWI who argue that thousands of jobs will be threatened and industry may suffocate under the lack of an unskilled workforce. The present regulations, sure to be ramped up by the Tories, seek to ensure that predominantly high-skilled workers only are let in to the UK.

Habib Rahman, the Chief Executive for JCWI, has labelled the incumbent scheme as pandering to highly skilled workers – something sure to continue under a potential new Conservative government. Rahman has also questioned the Tory philosophy that current immigration levels are placing strains on British public services, pointing out that many professionals in areas such as nursing, healthcare, teaching and social services were trained or born offshore. He went on to add under EU legislation the political and legal ramifications of prohibiting people from EEA nations from travelling to Britain may be significant and constricting.

Rahman has also said that specialised industry and the NHS have all benefitted from immigration and that an arbitrary cap on numbers will suffocate business. This could result in sick people missing out on treatment or elderly people going without care.

In 2005, 17 percent of the UK’s economic growth was attributed to immigration. Add to that that nearly half of nurses and one-third of doctors and dentists are from overseas and the country’s coffers and services received a massive boost. There is also the question of overseas students injecting up to £5 billion each year into the local economy.

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Johnson’s grim statement is sure to further the ongoing conflict between the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) who has repeatedly claimed that the landmark will be reached in the next 20 years. Johnson said that the UK would cope with such an increase but repeated his predictions that such forecasts would not eventuate.

The Home Secretary’s latest statements were made ahead of his landmark public immigration debate with Conservative counterpart Chris Grayling and the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Home Affairs Chris Huhne. The announcement comes just one day after revelations that one in every ten people inside the UK was born overseas – a new record.

The ONS has claimed that the British population would hit 70 million by the year 2028. Similar predictions have also been made by independent statisticians based on current immigration trends. The government, however, has said that past trends will not continue and that growth would only be around one-third of that experienced in the past two decades.

Ahead of the debate, Mr Johnson has suggested that the predictions of the 70 million mark were sensible and pointed out that past forecasts had said that Britain would hit 76 million by 2001. Johnson argued that when he was a child in the 60’s the doomsayers said that it would be impossible to move to London by the 1980’s.

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The annual ONS report on population data further revealed that one in every eleven people who live in Britain had been born outside the country. Additionally, close to 25 percent of all births in Wales and England last year were to foreign-born women. These figures did not take into account immigrants that were due to or have returned home stated Immigration Minister Phil Woolas.

Out of the total of 708,711 births recorded in the UK in 2008 the number from foreign-born women constituted 170,834. Migrants from Eastern Europe alone had 25,000 children.

The ONS predicted that the population of the UK would rise by approximately 10 million over the next 25 years, which would mean a doubling of that recorded in the past quarter of a century. The statistics agency has forecasted that the UK population will reach 71.6 million by the year 2033 – up from the existing level of 61.4 million.

These figures have been disputed in the past as they are based on immigration trends which are unlikely to continue in the coming years. To address these concerns Mr Woolas warned that the ONS projections did not factor future government changes or indeed many temporary migrants who stay and work in the UK for a short period.

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According to Border and Immigration Minister Phil Woolas the statistics show that net migration is falling, indicating that migrants are now coming to the UK for a shorter length of time, working, contributing to the local economy and then returning home.

Asylum applications have fallen to 5,055 in the third quarter of 2009, which represents a 24% reduction when compared to the similar period in 2008. This figure is aided by actual decisions made on asylum cases which rose by 38% against the same period last year, with the overall grant rate falling by 12%.

The UKBA had set itself a target of concluding 60% of all new asylum cases in the next six months in December 2008 which may also have boosted the figures.

Eastern European applicants for the work registration scheme leveled out at 29,085 as compared to 41,265 in 2008 and 28,060 in the previous quarter.

British citizens returning to Britain made up 14% of the total inbound migration number, higher than any other nationality.

Net migration fell from 233,000 in 2007 to 163,000 last year – the lowest level recorded since 2004 when the eight accession countries first joined the European Union.

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In order to prevent the UK population reaching 70 million over the next two decades, as experts have predicted, net migration would need to be cut by around 50,000 per year. The YouGov poll revealed that 72 percent of Britons want the rate cut by 50,000 or less while 62 percent of Labour or Liberal Democrat voters want at least that figure reached.

The government has been blamed for most of the immigration concerns, with most pollsters showing a lack of trust in the government in an area which is looking large as key in the 2010 election. 77 percent of those polled did not feel that the government was honest and open about the topic, with only a third of Labour voters saying their government was being honest.

76 percent of people are worried about the impact of immigration on Britain, with the figure rising to 80 percent in the north of England. Just 5 percent claimed to be pleased with how the immigration issue is being handled.

Conservative opposition has used the poll to strengthen the argument against the government, saying that it is clear nobody believes what Labour is saying. Continued immigration at the current rate would add another seven million people to the UK population in the next 25 years, a clear indicator, say the Tories, that the matter is out of control.

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The survey, which looked at a range of policies regarding border control, revealed that 67 percent of voters feel that there was a negative effect on the UK from immigration. The majority of pollsters expressed concerns that immigration was resulting in foreign workers and illegal migrants taking jobs from British nationals, with calls for deportation high on the feedback.

Research company Angus Reid Public Opinion carried out the poll which once again shows that immigration will be a key issue in next year’s general election. The poll also revealed widespread scepticism over all of the main political parties’ immigration policies.

Labour was backed by just 12 percent of voters as the best political party to control British borders as opposed to the Tories which gathered 30 percent of the voting support. The Liberal Democrats were supported by just 8 percent.

The poll data comes just two weeks after Prime Minister Gordon Brown made his first major speech about the topic of immigration policy. In that speech Brown said the issue of immigration was not one for fringe parties and nor was it a taboo subject.

A spokesman for Angus Reid said the survey clearly shows how important the issue of immigration is right now within the UK, with numerous recent rule changes and open debates keeping the topic firmly in the limelight.

Over 2,000 people were quizzed in the survey, with 57 percent saying that deportation should be mandatory for all illegal newcomers. A further 56 percent were convinced that British workers were suffering from job losses to illegal immigrants. Only 23 percent of Britons said that illegal immigrants should be allowed temporary work in the UK and just 13 percent were in favour of them eventually having the opportunity to become citizens.

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Liam Cilfford, head of Global Visas, said the public had called for an amnesty and evidence was that it was needed for some 400,000 people who were suffering under current legislation. Clifford pointed to a decision by the UK Board of Immigration Appeals in 2007 which claimed it was about to announce an amnesty. No action has been taken since that time and matters have become significantly worse. According to Clifford, the BIA was losing staff as they could no longer support the Tier system, with budgets slashed and the results being the rise of such polarising groups as the BNP.

The BIA has been facing job cuts as the government has sought to combine the roles of several departments, leaving staff with little hope for their future. Unlike education or health, immigration is seen as an obvious choice for budget cuts as the work can be multi-tasked according to Clifford.

Clifford also raised the cases of the 400,000 forgotten people in the UK who could benefit the nation via GDP and taxes, saying that Global Visas attends to thousands of cases of people who genuinely want to become part of the system. Many of these people have children in school and want to do the right thing by society but are not allowed the chance.

Global Visas is one of the world’s leading authorities on visas and immigration and offers advice and information to corporate and individual clients. Founded in 1996 Global Visas has offices all over the world and specialises in advice for UK, US, South African and Australian travel.

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The report was made in response to a paper released by the London School of Economics earlier this year at the request of London Mayor Boris Johnson. When Johnson made the paper public he cited a number of references which may have been taken out of context, such as claiming that immigrants were far from a financial burden. Johnson, in introducing the paper, said he had hoped to provide factual information into the debate on immigration which he said had been in the past dominated by anecdote, hearsay and myth.

The new report suggest that Johnson had not read part of the paper which clearly stated that its findings were based themselves on heroic assumptions and that figures were at best ball-park estimates.

Johnson also said that providing an amnesty for illegal immigrants would not be a financial burden to the country and could instead benefit Britain by up to £3 billion each year. This figure was only briefly referred to in the paper, with two paragraphs in the 125-page document using numerous hypotheses to project a possible increase of such a number. The paper also pointed out that no facts exist which would allow any accurate forecasting on the economy.

Migrationwatch suggest the true cost of an amnesty would be more like £130 billion and added that the general public had fortunately more common sense than the mayor.

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