Ed Miliband: Mass immigration was good for the middle-classes but bad for the ... - Telegraph.co.uk

That was "a mistake", Mr Miliband will say today, suggesting that the arrival in Britain of Poles and other workers from Eastern Europe has undermined living standards for some working-class households.

A Treasury calculation made under Labour and still in place today suggests that such mass immigration adds around 0.25 percentage points to annual economic growth.

However, such figures fail to take account of the wider impact of immigration and the "price" paid by poorer Britons, Mr Miliband will say.

"We were dazzled by globalisation and too sanguine about its price. By focusing exclusively on immigration's impact on growth, we lost sight of who was benefitting from that growth," he will say.

For some middle-class families, the availability of cheap skilled labour was a boon. Yet for workers facing new competition from the new arrivals, it had negative effects.

"Immigration made things easier for some, but it also makes things harder for others," he will say. "If you wanted a conservatory built for your home, you were probably better off. If you were working for a company building conservatories, you probably weren't."

Mr Miliband will criticise employment agencies that specialise in immigrant workers, calling for a change in the law to prevent such firms offering staff solely from one country.

Labour will highlight a number of agencies which advertise an all-Polish workforce, suggesting such arrangements are unfair on British workers.

Many people in working-class areas have worries about immigation, Mr Miliband will say, citing his own constituents in Doncaster.

"They are worried about the future. They want there to be good jobs, they want their communities to grow strong once again. And they worry about immigration," he will say.

"Worrying about immigration, talking about immigration, thinking about immigration, does not make them bigots. Not in any way. They are anxious about the future."

Having ignored such fears in the past, Labour must now attempt to position itself as the party that can express voters' worries about immigration, he will say.

The opposition must "listen to those anxieties and speak directly to them in return", he will say. "That's not bowing to the Right. It's doing what Labour does best."

Mr Miliband will also offer a public criticism of Gordon Brown's infamous promise to provide "British jobs for British workers," suggesting the pledge only fuelled public cynicism about politicians over immigration.