Record inf lux is a price worth paying, says PM

MASS immigration from the EU is a price worth paying for not ‘wrecking’ the British economy, the Prime Minister suggested yesterday.

After 24 hours of silence, David Cameron admitted that record immigration statistics released this week were ‘disappointing’. But he said that they were a consequence of the UK having the strongest economy in the EU and workers from the likes of Spain and Italy flooding here to benefit.

Most controversially, he said Britain was prospering because it is a member of the single market – which includes a condition that EU citizens have full rights to free movement across the continent.

Mr Cameron said leaving the single market would cause ‘damage to jobs and to growth and to investment’. He added: ‘I do not believe for one minute that the right way to control immigration is to wreck our economy.

‘That is the consequence of leaving the single market inevitably, alongside years of uncertainty as we try to work out what our relationship would be with the EU and the single market.’

Mr Cameron’s referendum campaign was dealt a major blow on Thursday when a surge in the number of EU citizens moving to Britain to trawl for work pushed immigration to record levels.

The ONS said the number of EU nationals benefiting from its edicts on free movement hit an all-time high of 270,000 last year. This included a record 77,000 people who came here without the offer of jobs. The overall figure for net migration – the difference between the number of people entering the UK and those leaving – was 330,000.

The PM was attacked for failing to give a response to the figures on Thursday, despite being surrounded by banks of TV cameras at the G7 summit in Japan, with the Leave camp accusing him of ‘doing a runner’.

Yesterday he denied ducking questions, insisting he had been busy with other world leaders. Belatedly responding, Mr Cameron said: ‘Of course the figures yesterday are disappointing

‘They come at a time when Britain has created record numbers of jobs and it’s important to remember that there are record numbers of British nationals in work, record numbers of British women in work and that nine out of ten people work in our economy are British.’

But he added: ‘Nonetheless we have had a situation where for some years the British economy ... has been the jobs-creating economy in the EU and I think that is one of the things that lies behind those figures. That situation is beginning to change because the other European economies are now beginning to grow.

‘It is worth making this point that we are part of a single market so British people are able to go and work in France and Germany or Spain or Italy anywhere across the other 27 members and European nationals are able to come and work in the UK.’

The number of people pouring in from the EU now is almost equal to the number of migrants from the rest of the world. Traditionally, non-EU migration has always been higher.

The fact that EU immigration has rocketed – fuelled by a rise in incomers from Romania and Bulgaria – led to claims that Britain can no longer control its borders. Leave campaigners insist Britain could end free movement and still prosper.