Will somebody please shut the bloody door?

In a few weeks we shall witness the introduction of New Labour's first initiative to control mass immigration.

The points-based system is designed to identify those individuals who can make a real contribution to life in Britain and then let them in.

Points will be awarded for occupation and qualifications judged to be in demand. Those with no useful skills will, in theory, be shown the door.

According to leaked information if the system had been in operation during the past twelve months it would have barred 20,000 would-be immigrants.

Which sounds fine. Until you take on board the fact that last year the total number of foreign workers entering the UK hit 300,000.

And that a new study carried out by the House of Commons Library has revealed that in the 10 years of New Labour rule our population has increased by well over a million as a direct result of immigration.

That's the equivalent of 330 extra people every day for 10 years. In the previous decade of Conservative rule the figure for total immigration was just 141,000.

And we shouldn't be misled into believing that the massive increase is a result of the "unstoppable" influx from eastern Europe.

Between 1997 and 2006 there were more than three times as many arrivals from the rest of the world as from the EU.

The vast majority of us believe that Britain is already over-populated. A series of studies have shown that the open door policy on immigration has had no positive impact on the economy and is stretching public services in some areas to breaking point.

Yet our Government's only response to an issue which is changing forever the nature of our society is a feeble filtering system that will make next to no difference at all.