Brown pledges to stem immigration

London: Gordon Brown was expected to pledge to close the door to foreign doctors and a string of other professions as part of a crackdown to cut immigration into Britain.

After a decade in which Labour has allowed immigration on an unprecedented scale, England is now almost twice as crowded as Germany and four times as crowded as France.

But now the prime minister is insisting that he will not allow the population to soar to 70 million over the next 20 years as official forecasts predict.

In an interview, Brown signalled a major shift in his government's immigration policy as he admitted it had put key public services in some parts of the country under severe strain.

In what will be seized on by opponents as an admission that existing restrictions are too lax, he pledged to tighten the new points-based entry system before the next election.

Speaking ahead of his first major speech on immigration as prime minister, he said: "A few years ago we had to allow into the country — and we benefited from it — very highly skilled medical staff. We have now done a huge amount to train a new generation of medical staff in our country.

"We are now looking at how we can close the skills gap in this country so we can take occupations off the list where we need to recruit from abroad. Immigration will fall."

Critical shortage

The NHS had a critical shortage of doctors and other health professionals when Labour came to power, and staff from abroad were encouraged to come and work. Over 40,000 have been recruited in recent years.

But the government has faced controversy as home-grown junior doctors have struggled to find jobs.

Brown's personal intervention is part of the government's belated recognition that its handling of immigration has helped alienate Labour's core white, working-class vote.

Ministers concede that the lack of a proper debate on immigration has played into the hands of the far-Right BNP, which won two European Parliament seats earlier this year.

Controversy has been heightened by explosive claims by Andrew Neather, a former speech writer to Tony Blair, that ministers allowed immigration to increase in part to make Britain "truly multicultural" and to "rub the Right's noses in diversity."

Last week, Home Secretary Alan Johnson became the first to admit ministers had failed to grasp growing public concern about pressures on jobs and public services, and ignored problems about failed asylum seekers.