Britain fears migrant influx as EU expands

Britons are waiting with their fingers crossed as the European Union grows to 27 members with the addition next month of two more former Soviet-bloc states.

According to a startling new report quoted by the London tabloid the Daily Mail, foreign immigrants are coming to Britain at the rate of one every minute.

Government figures analysed by a rightist think tank, Migration Watch, concluded that 1,500 foreigners arrived in Britain every day in 2005, intending to settle here for at least one year.

This amounted to one immigrant every minute of the day. Scant wonder that the British public, particularly the older ones, are crying out for controls fearing that they would lose out on health services and other social benefits if the current trend continues unabated.

Of course, all these migrants were not from the European Union's new members. But the numbers who have come to Britain since the accession of 10 new members in 2004 is still a cause for concern.

Now Bulgaria and Romania will join other former communist states of the Soviet bloc that were admitted to the European Union two years ago, thus turning the once western European organisation into one more representative of the whole continent.

But as the EU expands eastwards there are concerns, particularly in the UK, that migrant workers will flood the economically more prosperous western European nations looking for higher paid jobs and better living conditions.

Though the cry of being swarmed by immigrants in general was first taken up by right-wing political parties and groups, the increasing presence of migrant workers from an expanded EU has begun to worry the mainstream political parties too with even Labour Party members having reservations about what they see as "uncontrolled" migration.

Ten new members were admitted to the EU in 2004. They were Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Shortly after, UK hit the top of the list as the most preferred destination for immigrants from the new EU countries. A survey conducted by Germany's DIW Institute estimated that in the first year up to 150,000 people migrated from the new to the older member states. Of that number at least one-third or 50,000 migrated to the UK.

Though the figures seemed rather disconcerting to those in the UK already troubled by immigration and asylum seekers from Asia and Africa in particular, some figured that the statistics were lower than the actual numbers that made their way to the UK.

UK Government figures released in mid-2004 showed that 130,000 or so from the new EU countries applied for work permits in the second half of 2004 of which about 123,000 were successful.

What then seemed like manageable numbers has now soared, with official government figures released in August indicating that nearly 600,000 persons have come from eight of the new EU members.

Home Office Minister Tim McNulty said that though some 447 persons from Poland and the seven other eastern and central European states applied to work in the UK the real figure would be nearer 600,000 if self-employed workers were counted.

What has raised the recent hue and cry over migration to the UK is the huge under estimation by the government about the numbers that would seek to come to the country to work or settle.

The government had earlier estimated that some 15,000 people from the new EU countries would move to the UK in search of better paying jobs every year.

That has been proved woefully wrong. In the two years since the new members were admitted in May 2004 the government approved 427,095 work applications.

Over half — that is some 264,560 — came from one country, Poland. Some estimate that another 100,000 or more workers arrived in the UK without actually registering which gives an entirely different complexion to the problem.

McNulty has denied that the government underestimated the numbers of would-be migrants. He claimed that the figure of 15,000 was actually the number they believed would settle in the UK.

"These are economically productive individuals who are making significant contributions to our economy," McNulty said at the time.

McNulty's assessment is supported by others such as Danny Sriskandarajah, a migration analyst from the UK's Institute of Public Policy Research who says that it is pretty clear the picture is overwhelmingly positive.

"These are hard working young people here to fill vacancies in our economy. They're not here to stay forever, they're paying their taxes, and they're keeping the UK economy and the UK labour market afloat."

Those supporters of the open door policy for migrant workers from the new EU countries argue that this benefits not only the individuals themselves but also the UK. They say that these young single people make few demands on public services such as the health services or the schools system but do contribute to economic growth and tax revenues. They also dismiss the charge that these migrants are stealing the jobs of the British.

Not all are convinced however by these arguments. Detractors of open migration point out that 75% of these workers receive less than £6 an hour and therefore have dragged down wage rates at the bottom end of the labour market. It is argued that they have pulled down wages, for instance, in the construction industry where many of them work, to the detriment of unskilled British workers.

Moreover large concentrations of eastern European people in some areas in the country tend to alienate local people causing friction and tension.

The problem is caused by the fact that citizens of EU member states are free to live and work anywhere within the EU, at least in principle.

When new members were admitted in 2004, 12 of the 15 existing members such as Germany and France decided to phase in this right over a seven year period as allowed by the agreement.

But Britain, Ireland and Sweden placed no such restrictions and allowed the peoples of those new members to come straightaway.

Now with Bulgaria and Romania due to join the EU in the next couple of days, there is a growing demand for restrictions to correct what is now seen as earlier mistakes by the government.

Though the current focus is on migration from eastern Europe, Migration Watch argues that this influx accounts for only one fifth of total immigration to the UK, most of which comes from Africa and Asia.

It points out that the largest group of migrants were people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka who accounted for two-thirds of net immigration.

This could raise new cries for sharply reducing numbers from South Asia. But with the current unsettled situation in Sri Lanka, the Labour government might find itself in some quandary over what to do with applications from Sri Lankans, not to mention some who pass off as Sri Lankan asylum seekers in the hope of gaining admission.