Immigration has been overwhelmingly positive for the economy but it must now be controlled for political and cultural reasons, experts at the Labour Party conference in Manchester agreed.

Speaking at a fringe event organised by the CIPD and the Work Foundation, immigration minister Liam Byrne said that migration from eastern Europe had added £6 billion a year to the economy since EU expansion in 2004, but added: “It’s a paradox that migration has done so much for the British economy but when you speak to the British public about it you get a different view.”