Immigration opinion: Bill Oddie (pictured on BBC's Springwatch) said he was delighted to have foreign neighbours and wanted a mixed country

Britain should impose a Chinese-style quota on the number of babies people can have rather than curb immigration, Bill Oddie has suggested.

The wildlife expert and TV presenter said he was delighted to have foreign neighbours and wanted a mixed country.

During a TV debate on immigration yesterday, he added: ‘There should just as likely be a restriction on the number of children that British people have because over-population is what you are talking about here – the big problem.’

Mr Oddie, 73, made his comments on BBC1’s Sunday Morning Live, arguing: ‘So you say these perfectly well-qualified people can’t come in, but the woman down the road has just had her tenth baby. Well I’m sorry, but they are the people that really should be contained. It would make a difference.’

In 1979, China introduced laws banning families from having more than one child. Earlier this year, it eased the rules when the quota was raised to two for some couples.

Mr Oddie, who has three daughters from two marriages, was lambasted for his comments.

Alp Mehmet, of MigrationWatch UK, said: ‘I’m surprised someone as wise and decent as Bill Oddie is coming up with that sort of nonsense. What he is saying is absurd.

‘He’s right – population levels are increasing – but that is largely driven by immigration, not large British families. The current government has been successful in bringing down the numbers of people entering the country from outside the EU to 1998 levels.

‘We are controlling immigration and we should continue to be aiming in that direction, rather than going down the Chinese route of limiting the number of children people can have.

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Rules on a sign: In 1979, China introduced laws banning families from having more than one child. Earlier this year, it eased the regulations when the quota was raised to two for some couples

Mr Oddie, who was a member of The Goodies comedy trio, claimed he was ‘often ashamed to be British’

‘We are not that sort of country. Why we are such an attractive country is precisely because we don’t make laws saying you will have this number of children only and no more.

‘Chairman Mao went down that route years ago and I think British people would be horrified at the thought of anyone suggesting we do the same here.’

Over-population is what you are talking about here – the big problem Bill Oddie

Earlier in the programme, Mr Oddie, who was a member of The Goodies comedy trio, claimed he was ‘often ashamed to be British’.

He said: ‘Historically, we seem to have built up this ridiculous idea that, “Oh, we are British, this is our island and we don’t want anybody else in it”. I personally loathe that kind of chauvinism and I’m happy to say I’m not proud to be British.

'In fact, I’m very often ashamed to be British. We are a terrible race, all the hooliganism and God knows what.

'I love the fact that I walk down the road in north London, and down here’s an Indian shop, and there’s another Indian stationers there, and this one is run by someone from Iran, and there’s a West Indian guy who runs that bit, and we’ve got the Romanian builders next door who don’t play the radio as loud as English builders.'