'Intensely relaxed': Cable undermines Home Office immigration fight back

By Ian Dunt

A Home Office fight-back on immigration following embarrasing revelations about Theresa May's use of statisticshas been undermined by the business secretary.

Home Office minister James Brokenshire will go out to bat for his boss today, making several of the points she was criticised for making about the impact of immigration on British jobs.

But he will be quickly undermined by Vince Cable who will make a speech just moments later in which he will say he is "intensely relaxed" about migrants arriving in the UK to work.

Brokenshire's comments will contradict evidence in a withheld government report, which is understood to have found that the impact of immigration on British jobs is "negligible".

In his first outing as immigration minister Brokenshire will say: "Uncontrolled mass immigration can force wages down and house prices up and put pressure on social cohesion and public services. And let me be clear - it can also cause displacement in the labour market.

"Some have tried to claim that this rapid increase is somehow 'good' for the country. Well, just like the home secretary, I disagree.

"For too long, the benefits of immigration went to employers who wanted an easy supply of cheap labour; or to the wealthy metropolitan elite who wanted cheap tradesmen and services - but not to the ordinary, hardworking people of this country."

The comments will be flatly contradicted in a speech by Cable immediately afterwards, when he adopts the language Peter Mandelson used about the super rich to demand that politicians adopt more moderate rhetoric on immigration.

"I know from experience that these arguments are difficult on the doorstep, where - after years of pressure on living standards and worries about jobs and housing - immigration is deeply unpopular," he will say.

"But the answer I give is that I am intensely relaxed about people coming to work and study here and bringing necessary skills to Britain - provided that they pay their taxes and pay their way.

"Lower the temperature of the immigration debate, and we can create greater room to discuss the more significant, more challenging and more provocative issues around skills. That is where our long-term interests really lie."

The business secretary wil also insist that contrary to comments from May and health secretary Jeremy Hunt, benefit tourism is predominantly a tabloid myth.

"There are a host of reasons to be a tourist to the UK, but its benefits system is not one of them," he will say.

"We need to kill all the scare stories."

Meanwhile, more evidence of the report on 'job displacement' emerged in the press today, as the government came under greater pressure to publish.

A Whitehall source told the Independent the report showed immigration had a "negligible" impact on British workers.

The research, by the Home Office, Department for Business and Department of Work and Pensions, shows May's often repeated statement that 23 British jobs are lost for every 100 immigrants is not supported by evidence.

The two speeches show how divided ministers are becoming on immigration - particularly along Lib Dem-Tory lines.

But they also demonstrate that whole government departments are starting to but heads on the issue, with the Home Office complaining of institutional bias towards immigration from the Treasury and Foreign Office.