Department of the Wrong End of the Stick

Setting aside the issue of whether or not a House of Lords committee can accurately be considered "influential"...

Record levels of immigration have had "little or no impact" on the economic well-being of Britons, an influential House of Lords committee has said.

Well, that's not the point. Or at least it's not the point as far as I'm concerned. What about the immigrants themselves? Couldn't we rejoice in their economic advancement and, one supposes (via remissions from immigrant workers), that of their home countries too? Couldn't that be be something to be celebrated? The world doesn't stop at the water's edge after all and in an age in which we welcome, quite properly, the free movement of goods and capitol shouldn't we also give a huzzah or two to the (admittedly still incomplete) free movement of labour? We're not the only players in this game.

Naturally the noble Lords consider all this an argument in favour of limiting immigration, whereas I'd like to think of it as reason to open the borders still further...

UPDATE: Chris Dillow has more.