GETTY Home Secretary, Theresa May

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In a provocative Tory conference speech, the Home Secretary will say that the annual influx of hundreds of thousands of newcomers from the EU has “close to zero” benefit for the UK economy. She will warn that the current surge means an extra 200,000 houses are needed in the country every year and putting intense pressure on schools. And she will also accept that the UK simply does not need immigration at the current level and rubbish Labour claims that more public spending can mitigate the pressures on services and communities. Her remarks, is her speech to the Tory conference in Manchester, are likely to be seen as throwing down the gauntlet to David Cameron over his EU negotiation. It signals a distinct hardening of her language on immigration after the failure to bring down the annual net influx to the Government target of tens of thousands. Home Office sources said her speech will make the case for a big cut in annual net migration to the UK. But it will raise questions among senior Tories over whether a big cut in immigration is possible without scrapping EU free movement rules. “When immigration is too high, when the pace of change is too fast, it’s impossible to build a cohesive society,” Mrs May will say. “It’s difficult for schools and hospitals and core infrastructure like housing and transport to cope.

GETTY Migrants in Calais protest

When immigration is too high, when the pace of change is too fast, it’s impossible to build a cohesive society Theresa May

“And we know that for people in low-paid jobs, wages are forced down even further while some people are forced out of work altogether.” She will add: “Now I know there are some people who say, yes there are costs of immigration, but the answer is to manage the consequences, not reduce the numbers. “But not all of the consequences can be managed, and doing so for many of them comes at a high price. “We need to build 210,000 new homes every year to deal with rising demand. “We need to find 900,000 new school places by 2024. “And there are thousands of people who have been forced out of the labour market, still unable to find a job. “But even if we could manage all the consequences of mass immigration, Britain does not need net migration in the hundreds of thousands every year. “Of course, immigrants fill skills shortages and it’s right that we should try to attract the best talent in the world, but not every person coming to Britain right now is a skilled electrician, engineer or doctor.” Figures show little overall economic benefit from mass immigration, she will say.

GETTY French police evict migrants from camp site in Calais

“The evidence – from the OECD, the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee and many academics – shows that while there are benefits of selective and controlled immigration, at best the net economic and fiscal effect of high immigration is close to zero. “So there is no case, in the national interest, for immigration of the scale we have experienced over the last decade. ?” Mrs May will also warn that the issues of refugees and economic migration are becoming confused. She is expected to say: “People on both extremes of the debate – from the anti-immigration far right to the open-borders liberal left – conflate refugees in desperate need of help with economic migrants who simply want to live in a more prosperous society. “Their desire for a better life is perfectly understandable, but their circumstances are not nearly the same as those of the people fleeing their homelands in fear of their lives. “There are millions of people in poorer countries who would love to live in Britain, and there is a limit to the amount of immigration any country can and should take. “While we must fulfil our moral duty to help people in desperate need, we must also have an immigration system that allows us to control who comes to our country.”

GETTY Theresa May will make the bold speech at the Tory conference