MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Growing political consensus in UK to clamp immigration

British lawmakers plan to demand new limits on immigration to help slow the population growth in the United Kingdom.

Two ex-government ministers are scheduled to launch a Parliamentary panel on migration this week that will call for a new fixed limit on the number of non-European Union citizens allowed to settle permanently in Britain. The majority of people living in Britain, from all political and ethnic backgrounds, think too many people are settling in the country and favour tougher immigration policies, a new poll shows. According to the YouGov poll, 57% of adults think there should be less immigration than emigration. A further 28% favor keeping the number of people moving to Britain the same as the number leaving, so-called balanced migration. Frank Field, a former welfare minister from the governing Labour Party, and Nicholas Soames, once armed forces minister for the Conservative Party, said legislators from all parties had agreed to join their Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration. The panel is scheduled to publish a report titled Balanced Migration ? A New Approach To Controlling Immigration, which will call for new limits on the length of time non-EU workers are able to reside in the UK. Citizens of European Union members can live and work relatively freely in all 27 countries, though some member states have imposed restrictions on those from newly joined states, such as Bulgaria and Romania. Foreigners from outside the bloc, however, are only allowed UK residence based on their skills and on Britain's economic needs. Many qualify for permanent residence once their working permits expire, typically after three to five years. Field said the panel's report had been drafted after a European Commission forecast that the UK population would rise from 61 million to 77 million within 50 years, mainly due to immigration. A migrants' rights group said, however, that any plans to limit immigration could harm the British economy. Britain is not the only EU country planning to curb inflation. The government of Silvio Berlusconi is also addressing the issue and Germany will make all potential immigrants take an exam on German language, history, culture and government. Both Mr. Berlusconi and President Nicholas Sarkozy won elections with strong stances on the immigration issue. Latinamerican immigrants are particularly furious with the Socialist Spanish government of Rodriguez Zapatero that has adopted an iron hand attitude towards immigration.