IMMIGRATION is today blamed for ruining the quality of British life in a pamphlet by an outspoken Conservative MP seemingly out of kilter with David Cameron’s direction for the party.

Rising house prices, water shortages and transport congestion are all blamed on the level of immigration by Julian Brazier, a member of the right-wing Cornerstone group of MPs. He claims that long working hours and high levels of family breakdown are being exacerbated by the high mortgage and rent payments driven by housing shortages because of immigration.

The Cornerstone group, supported by 30 of Mr Cameron’s MPs, has fallen foul of the leadership before with an attack on the A-list of candidates designed to increase diversity.

But last night Mr Cameron’s spokesman said that he was relaxed about the latest Cornerstone pamphlet and welcomed it as part of a debate on immigration launched by Damian Green, the shadow minister.

Mr Green had called for a more civilised debate after the inflammatory election tactics of Michael Howard, the former leader, which Mr Green described as harsh.

The Shadow Immigration Minister said that he wanted to “raise the tone of the debate” by “developing credible policies . . . to stop it being dominated by the extremist parties”.

Mr Brazier, a mathematician, said that population growth largely fuelled by immigration will undermine quality of life for many people, especially those on low incomes, including many from ethnic minority backgrounds.

In his paper, he concluded: “Overcrowding is a key cause of many of the factors which are destroying quality of life: mortgage slavery, overdevelopment, congested roads, water shortages, flooding and overstretched public services. We should do everything we can sensibly — and fairly — to reduce the level of immigration to well below the level of emigration.

“The first and easiest step in this direction would be to return to a much smaller number of work permits (issued to non-EU citizens), as occurred under all previous governments. We should also restrict them, as was always the case before, to highly skilled people.”

His paper states that, in 2004, gross immigration stood at nearly 600,000 and that, in Europe, population density levels in Britain were second only to the Low Countries. England, hardest hit by the pressures created by record immigration, is more crowded than the Low Countries, China and India, he says.

Mr Brazier told The Times that Mr Cameron had called for a debate of all the issues surrounding immigration. “I have heard Damian Green speak several times and there is much more we agree on than we disagree on. We have to look at the quantitative side of this. Every forecast for immigration has been exceeded and that is very disturbing.”

Mr Brazier’s paper comes after leaked Home Office documents gave warning of the impact of high immigration on public services.

A Conservative Party spokesman, said: “We welcome immigration, but we have always said that proper controls are essential. Three weeks ago Damian Green launched a national consultation asking for suggestions on immigration policy, and he has begun a tour of the country to hear the views of a wide range of people.

“This is one contribution to the debate and we look forward to receiving many others.”

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