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London will continue to depend on skilled migrant labour as long as its education system continues to underperform, mayor Ken Livingstone told visitors at the Thames Gateway seminar.

Citing the capital's economic success as down to its open borders, he said that 90% of migrants to London arrived with a degree or equivalent, adding: ‘Until we rectify the education system, any restrictions to migration would damage London's economy.

‘The weakness of our education is its failure to give literacy and numeracy skills.'

The mayor is taking over the functions of the post-16 Learning and Skills Council in London and he said that if he won the 2008 mayoral election, improving skills would be ‘a keynote for my third term'.