IndiaPost.com - Britain's Brown seeks to defuse immigration row

LONDON: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought October 31 to calm a simmering immigration row, after the government admitted mistakes over the number of foreign workers coming into the country.

Brown, who has pledged to protect and create "British jobs for British workers", stepped in as new figures also revealed that 40 per cent of all newly-created jobs over the last decade have gone to foreign-born nationals.

Specifically he highlighted plans to control the flow of foreign workers into the country, including an Australian-style points system to prioritize immigrants with skills needed in Britain.

"Over the next few months, we have decided on changes that will make the system work in such a way that people can be sure that we are taking the action that is necessary, and of course at the same time benefiting where we want to from the skills that people can bring to our country," he told GMTV.

His comments came after minister was forced to apologize for releasing mistaken figures for the number of foreign workers in Britain.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said October 30 she was "sorry" the government had had to correct official figures this week on the increase in foreign nationals working in Britain since 1997, from 800,000 to 1.1 million.

The corrected figures constitute 40.7 percent of the 2.7 new jobs created since the ruling Labour Party came to power a decade ago. Opposition Tories said the true figure for foreign national was even higher, at 1.5 million.