LONDON - The head of Britain’s main opposition has sided with the government’s decision to maintain tight border controls and restrict the flow of migrants, despite severe labour shortages in the nation.

Addressing the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the country’s influential business lobby, Mr Keir Starmer, leader of the centre-left Labour Party, argued that the “days of cheap labour” must end and urged employers to wean themselves off “immigration dependency” by moving away from the “low-pay model”.