New immigrants coming to Britain should have an understanding of the country's Christian heritage, a former Archbishop of Canterbury has said.
Lord Carey is among 19 MPs and peers backing a call for all the major parties to make a commitment in their general election manifestos not to allow the UK's population to reach 70 million.
In an interview with the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, he stressed he was not calling for a ban on non-Christian immigrants settling in Britain.
But he warned that if concerns about the level and nature of immigration were not addressed, it simply would play into the hands of the far-right British National Party.
"What I think we must call for is an understanding on the part of those who come into our country that they are coming into one which values parliamentary democracy, which is built upon our Christian heritage," he said.
"They have got to understand our commitment to the English language and espouse it, and they must understand our history."
Lord Carey said that the parliamentary Cross-Party Group on Balanced Migration was not arguing for an outright ban on new immigration but believed that there needed to be a "reasonable limit" on the numbers coming into the country.
He said that the BNP was already making political capital out of the "sense of unfairness" that many people felt over the issue.
"If we don't do something about this, we play immediately into the hands of the BNP. That is very clear indeed," he said.
"They are working and exploiting frustration, a sense of alienation on the part of white working class people who are saying 'our jobs are being taken by people from abroad'."
