Fact-checking Theresa May's claims in her anti-immigration speech

Theresa May caused widespread consternation on Tuesday after a speech at the Conservative Party conference in which she claimed "mass migration" was harming social cohesion in Britain.

The home secretary was criticised from both sides of the political spectrum for what many saw as a distortion of the facts.

The Telegraph's political columnist James Kirkup described the speech as "awful, ugly, misleading, cynical and irresponsible", while the Spectator's Alex Massie deplored its "stale and noxious concoction of tawdry nativism" and called on her to resign.

Here are three claims made in Theresa May's speech, and then the facts as printed by Wednesday morning's i paper:

Claim:

Mrs May said: "For people in low-paid jobs, wages are forced down... while some people are forced out of work altogether."

Fact:

A review carried out last year by Mrs May's own officials found "little evidence" that immigration has caused "significant displacement of UK natives from the labour market" when the economy is strong.

Claim:

Mrs May said: "Even if we could manage all the consequences of mass immigration, Britain does not need net migration in the hundreds of thousands every year."

Fact:

Last year the Office for Budget Responsibility said a net 105,000 migrants were needed in the UK by 2016. The figure was revised down from the 2013 estimate of 140,000.

Claim:

Mrs May said: "While there are benefits of selective and controlled immigration, at best the net economic and fiscal effect of high immigration is close to zero."

Fact:

A 2014 study of immigrants from the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004 found they contributed £4.96bn more in tax up to 2011 than they took out in public services.

More: How the Labour and Tory immigration policies compare

More: Jeremy Hunt seems to want Britain to be more like communist China

More: Read Michael Gove's unbearably smug Tory conference speech