Britain is going to restrict immigration to preserve jobs for its citizens, Immigration Minister Phil Woolas has said

“If people are being made unemployed, the question of immigration becomes extremely thorny … It’s been too easy to get into this country in the past and it’s going to get harder,” the Labor government minister told the Times of London. Britain's unemployment rate rose sharply, to 5.7%, in the last quarter. Britain, which admits about 200,000 immigrants a year, adopted a tougher points-based immigration system in February. "Only those with skills the country needs can come," Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said at the time. Woolas said the government should train British citizens for those jobs. The opposition Conservatives have been pushing to cut immigration substantially below the 200,000 figure. Labor MP and former minister Frank Field welcomed the policy change. "We shouldn't grow the population by immigration," he said.