A House of Lords committee has said that immigration has brought only a small benefit to the UK and has had little or no impact on the economic well being of the British people.

The Lords Economic Affairs Committee said that immigrant workers coming into the UK had worked against low paid UK workers and had helped to push up house prices.

The report called upon the government to set up an explicit target range for immigration and ensure that regulation keeps immigration within that range.

The committee said that the idea that high levels of immigration were necessary to prevent a shortage of labour, was fundamentally flawed.

The government has claimed that immigration brought an extra £6 billion to the economy in 2006.

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