A huge influx of foreign workers taking low paid jobs has depressed average wages and productivity in Britain, a senior Bank of England official suggested yesterday.

Deputy governor Ben Broadbent said the UK’s recovery attracted immigrants from Europe where growth is sluggish and unemployment high.

He said that even though many migrants are well-qualified, they are happy to take low-skilled and low-paid jobs – unlike many British-born workers.

Risking a firestorm? Bank of England deputy governor Ben Broadbent said the UK's strong recovery has attracted extra migrants, who hold down wages

The comments risk reigniting the political debate over immigration.

Official figures show that met migration reached a record high of 330,000 in the 12 months to March – more than three times the 100,000 level David Cameron pledged to reduce it to in 2010.

Mr Broadbent said average wages and productivity have been pushed down as a result of increased demand for low-skilled work from British firms and a plentiful supply of people willing to accept such jobs in the wake of the financial crisis.

‘We know that migration flows have risen significantly over the past 15 years and that immigrants are more likely to take low-skilled jobs than UK-born workers,’ he told an economics conference at the Bank of England.

‘When the UK economy grows faster than its neighbours, as has been the case over the past couple of years, you’d expect to see greater inward migration and a disproportionate rise in the supply of low-skilled labour in particular.’

Draw: Britain's economic success has been a magnet for those wanting to move here. Pictured are makeshift settlements near the Channel Tunnel in Calais

Mr Broadbent cited the example of a small business he had spoken to that was looking to hire a ‘very experienced’ accountant that could one day become finance director.

However, the company eventually decided to hire two much more junior and less well trained staff including one from Europe – so avoiding a potentially costly and lengthy process of recruiting a senior employee.

‘The firm would end up being less productive than it might have been – two people are now doing the work of one,’ said Mr Broadbent.

‘But there’d be a compensating fall in its average wage and given the relative availability of less experienced employees it made sense for them to go down this route.’

The reluctance of banks to lend following the financial crisis also hit productivity by reducing investment in technology and demand for high-skilled staff, he said.

But the former Goldman Sachs banker added that wages and productivity have started picking up and look set to continue to do so.

‘A strengthening of the recovery in the rest of Europe would reduce the relative supply of low-skilled labour,’ Mr Broadbent said.