Leading article: Closed borders, closed minds

For months David Cameron has deflected questions about Conservative policies by citing the various policy commissions due to report next summer. But on immigration he seems to have jumped straight in. Yesterday he endorsed a new paper on the subject by his home affairs spokesman, David Davis, which contains detailed proposals.

The Government has forced the Tories' hand on this issue to some extent. When the Home Secretary, John Reid, introduced tight working restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants last month, he also announced draconian restrictions on migration by unskilled workers from outside the EU. The Conservatives fear being outflanked.

There is one encouraging aspect to yesterday's paper. It makes a proper distinction between asylum and immigration, two issues that have been blurred by the Conservatives in the past. But beyond that, the proposals are just as wrong-headed as those outlined in the hopeless 2005 Conservative manifesto. Take the proposal for an annual limit on immigration. We are told that the limit will be set after consultation with industry. This sounds suspiciously like economic planning. This is surreal coming from a party supposedly committed to the principle of the free market.

In any case, Mr Cameron seems to have made his mind up already on the numbers. He tells us that immigration from outside the EU will be "significantly less" under a future Conservative government. But there is no mention of what will happen if the UK economy actually requires more, not less, labour - a far more likely scenario in light of our growing economy.

As well as being economically regressive, the plan is disingenuous. "Communities" are, apparently, to have a say on immigration limits. But Mr Cameron knows full well that local groups are more likely to be against immigration than in favour of it, especially given the hysterical nature of so much of what passes for debate on this issue. Mr Cameron calls this a way of assessing the "social impact" of immigration. But it is really a way of keeping people out. We are told the Conservatives will also assess the impact of immigration on public services - but the truth is that without immigrant workers, many public services in Britain would soon collapse. Perhaps the most disturbing proposal is a "unified border force", separate from the police, with powers to "track down" and remove those who have overstayed their permission to remain.

Mr Cameron has been very successful in moving his party towards the moderate centre. But it seems that some bad habits are harder to shake than others. On immigration, the Conservatives are demonstrating that they have not changed anything like enough.