450,000 eastern Europeans working in UK
Tuesday, 22 August 2006 12:00 AM
Almost 450,000 workers from the ten countries that joined the EU in 2004 have come to work in the UK, new figures reveal.
Home Office research finds that 447,095 eastern Europeans have taken advantage of the right to work in the UK since May 2004, almost two thirds of them from Poland.
This is considerably more than the 15,000 a year originally predicted by the government, and will fuel concerns about the accession of Romania and Bulgaria next year.
Ministers have yet to decide whether citizens of those two countries will be allowed the same right to work in the UK as the ten states that joined two years ago.
But the Conservatives and business leaders are calling for restrictions on immigration, arguing that given the government's failure to predict how many people might arrive, it should wait before opening Britain's borders.
The Home Office believes the influx of migrants from the ten new EU states have had a beneficial effect on the economy - today's figures show that 97 per cent of the new arrivals are in full-time work, and 93 per cent have no dependents with them.
The vast majority are between the ages of 18 and 34, and less than 800 have been granted any kind of benefits, with the vast majority (98 per cent) of national insurance applications being for the purpose of employment.
The Local Government Association (LGA) recently raised concerns about the strain immigrants put on local resources, particularly when those numbers were as widely underestimated as today's figures show they are.
But the Home Office points out that 2,000 of the eastern European migrants are GPs, doctors, nurses or medical specialists, a further 1,500 are teachers or classroom assistants and 6,500 have found work as bus, lorry or coach drivers.
"The latest worker registration scheme figures show that migrant workers from the accession states are benefiting the UK, by filling skills and labour gaps that cannot be met from the UK-born population," said immigration minister Tony McNulty.
He stressed that no decision had yet been taken on Bulgaria and Romania, although trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling said at the weekend that there must be a "properly managed, properly controlled" immigration system.
However, shadow immigration minister Damian Green said today's figures make it "all the more urgent" that the government stop "ducking and diving" and take an early decision on the issue.
"It is vital that we learn the lessons of the unprecedented numbers who came into this country after the last expansion of the EU," he said.
"The government should impose conditions similar to those applied by most European countries to the last wave of EU accession countries. Controlled immigration makes life much better for everyone involved."
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