In his first major speech on the issue since taking power, Cameron said uncontrolled migration had led to “discomfort and disjointedness” in some neighborhoods.

However, Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable told the BBC that the prime minister’s choice of words was “very unwise.” talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed,” Cable said.

Cameron said in the speech in Southampton that problems in many communities stemmed from the fact that some migrants have been unwilling to learn English and integrate.

That development had created ghettos in some towns and allowed anti-immigrant groups like the British National Party to take hold.

Defending the coalition’s policy of allowing a limited number of skilled immigrants into Britain from outside the European Union, he said mass migration had put serious pressure on housing and services.

Ending the country’s benefits culture and cutting immigration were “two sides of the same coin,” he added.

The government “would never control immigration properly if it didn’t tackle welfare dependency,” Cameron said.

Foreign workers could not be blamed for snapping up jobs if the inflated benefits system meant that most Britons did not need to work and could live adequately on handouts.

Between 1997 and 2009, 2.2 million more people came to live in Britain than left, Cameron said.