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#Yet more promises and new laws won t solve Britain s problem with immigration

In the era of globalisation, you can't simply legislate migration away, and David Cameron's impossible promises will only give Ukip more ammunition

That law contained a series of reforms which will ensure our immigration system is fairer to British citizens and legitimate migrants and tougher on those with no right to be here . At the time, the Home Office rather breathlessly announced that the act contains 77 clauses and makes fundamental changes to how our immigration system functions.

The law was nothing less than a landmark piece of legislation that would ensure that our immigration system works in the national interest, according to James Brokenshire, then as now the immigration minister.

The act cut the number of immigration decisions that can be appealed and allowed ministers to deport some foreign criminals before their appeals were heard. Landlords would be forced to check on the immigration status of tenants before letting, and temporary migrants would have to pay to use some NHS services.

By doing this we will deter illegal migration and encourage those with no right to be here to leave. You can read more about that landmark here.

When that law took effect, net immigration was running at 242,000 a year. The most recent figures, released in February, put the number at 298,000. Stats today put the figure at 318,000.

By no coincidence at all, David Cameron will be giving a speech on immigration today too. And guess what he s promising? That s right, a new immigration law that will deter people from coming to the UK.

The latest landmark legislation will force banks to check bank accounts against databases of people here illegally; extend deport, first appeal later measures to all immigration appeals. There ll be satellite tracking tags for foreign criminals awaiting deportation too.

Taking a leaf out of Ed Miliband s book, the PM will make it an offence for businesses and recruitment agencies to recruit abroad without advertising in the UK. There ll also be a new labour market enforcement agency to crack down on the worst cases of labour market exploitation.

And the headline measure is a new offence of illegal working: it will now be a specific criminal offence to work here without authorisation.

This boils down to a policy of telling people who are already desperate enough and cunning enough to work illegally that that if they continue to do so, they will be, er, breaking the law. Is that really a deterrent to coming to Britain. or a reason to leave? Likewise those who employ them: how many employers who currently flout the law by employing people who cannot prove they are legally entitled to work here will reconsider their business model as a result of this?

The truth is that you can t legislate immigration away. In a world of cheap and easy travel and porous borders, differentials in real wages will inevitably create an economic incentive for people from low-wage countries to come to high-wage ones. And employers who naturally want to employ the most productive workers for the lowest possible wages will hire such people.

For as long as Britain s economy remains open to the world (and it should) and richer than most (and it should) then mass immigration is going to be fact of life. Mr Cameron, having sensibly avoided over-promising on immigration during the general election campaign (largely by avoiding the issue), now risks falling back into his bad old ways of promising voters that he has found a magic wand that can make their problems disappear in a trice. This is the sort of over-promise then under-deliver approach that helped make Ukip what it is today.

Instead of yet another law and more talk about crackdowns, Mr Cameron would be better off taking focusing on helping create more high-skill, high-wage jobs and equipping British people with the skills and attitudes to fill them. He should also do more to let communities that experience significant immigration share immediately in the economic benefits that arise from those immigrants labour and taxes. Who knows? Perhaps the PM could even try to persuade a few voters that immigration can be economically and socially beneficial, and that many of the people who travel long distances to work in Britain are actually the sort of industrious and enterprising folk we should welcome and embrace?

Maybe. That would all take time and political capital, and certainly wouldn t not create as many flashy headlines as today s exercise. But with a five-year parliament just beginning and a majority in the bag, Mr Cameron is not short of time or capital. And one thing is certain: yet another list of eye-catching promises and laws isn t going to solve Britain s problem with immigration.