British business leaders are concerned that a push to dramatically wind back immigration could seriously harm the UK economy.
Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to reduce net migration from over 300,000 a year to less than 100,000, and introduce a controversial register of foreign workers.
Karan Bilimoria, an Indian-born entrepreneur who co-founded the Cobra Beer empire, accused the Conservatives of losing the plot, and said countries like Australia would benefit from Britain turning its back on immigrants.
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"We have the lowest level of unemployment in living memory - we have the highest level of employment in living memory, and that's in spite of having over 3 million people from the EU living and working in the UK," he told 7.30.
"What would we do without those 3 million people from the EU living and working in the UK?"
Beer cashed in on UK curry house boom
Lord Bilimoria arrived in England from India as a 19-year-old student. While studying law at Cambridge, he and a friend decided the English needed a new beer - one specifically made to drink with curries.
"Our first company car was a £295 battered Citroen called Albert, and we would drive it and sell our most expensive Indian beer," he said.
"It could take fifteen cases and if you looked down you could see the road through the floor of the car."
Cobra beer is now sold in 99 per cent of licensed Indian restaurants in the UK as well as in 45 other countries around the world.
In 2006 the beer baron was appointed to the House of Lords and in 2014 became chancellor of the University of Birmingham.
Lord Bilimoria said he got his opportunities because the UK opened up under Margaret Thatcher.
"When I came to this country as a student in the early 80s, Britain was the sick man of Europe, Britain had no respect in the world economy," he said.
"Entrepreneurship was looked down upon as second-hand car salesmen."
Now, he says, the Conservative Government is sending out all the wrong messages.
As well as wanting to cut immigration, the Government is also proposing more restrictive international student regulations.
"Instead of setting a target to increase the amount of international students, in a way a country like Australia who gets it does, we put them off and send out these negative signals," Lord Bilimoria said.
"It's just economically illiterate to do that. Australia, I know, are laughing at us.
"I've heard from senior Australian Government officials saying, 'We thank you for your immigration policies in the UK because you are sending the brightest and best from countries like India to us in Australia and we welcome them.'"
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