Migrants 'not given housing priority'

Claims that immigrants are given priority access to social housing were dismissed yesterday as a myth by the equalities watchdog.

A study for the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that social tenants who had moved to the UK within the past five years accounted for only 1.8 per cent. Some 87.8 per cent were UK-born and 10 per cent were foreigners who had lived in Britain for more than five years.

The study, based on previously published figures from the 2007 Labour Force Survey, was conducted by the Institute for Public Policy Research think-tank.