Britain's Immigration Minister has warned the number of migrants to the country could be cut because of the worsening economic situation.
Phil Woolas says immigration could become a thorny issue if British people are losing their jobs.
"It's been too easy to get into this country in the past and it's going to get harder," he said.
The Home Office said the new points-based system provided "a powerful and flexible set of controls".
The British government recently introduced a points-based system to attract migrants from outside the EU judged to be most valuable to the economy.
But Mr Woolas said: "This government isn't going to allow the population to go up to 70 million.
"There has to be a balance between the number of people coming in and the number of people leaving."
Official figures show the population grew by nearly two million to almost 61 million between 2001 and 2007.
Projections predict this to rise to 77 million in 2051 or 110m in 2081.
Former Labour minister Frank Field, who is a member of a cross-party group on immigration, welcomed the government's seeming change of emphasis.
"When we're moving into a recession, the length of which we do not yet know, the immigration policy suitable for a boom is totally unsuitable for a recession," he said.
Chief executive of the Immigration Advisory Service, Keith Best, said there was a danger Mr Woolas' comments could be misinterpreted.
"This is what's going to come across as 'We don't want migrant workers'," he said.
An economic downturn would mean fewer people would be attracted to the UK for work anyway, he said - but some skills shortages would still exist even in recession.
