Chancellor Jeremy Hunt appeared before the Lords’ economic affairs committee and was questioned about the recent forecast of net migration.
The Office for Budget Responsibility had forecast that net migration would settle at 245,000 in the long-term, which is up from 129,000 forecast last year.
Hunt acknowledged that the growth in labor supply was being fueled by immigration. However, when asked whether 245,000 was too high, he suggested that it was and that the government was planning to reduce it below this figure.
He stated that the country had voted for Brexit to change the economic model to one that is not dependent on unlimited migration and that the government was working towards a high-wage, high-skill economy that is less dependent on migration.
Recent census data showed that migrants are more likely to have jobs than native-born Britons. The Office for National Statistics found that 70.8% of those from the EU and 58% from the rest of the world were employed, compared to 55.9% of over-16s born in the UK.
Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants had the highest employment rates at 80.4%, while people born in the British Overseas Territories had the lowest at 45.8%.
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