No open-door policy for Bulgarian and Romanian workers in UK

The UK’s Labour Minister Frank Filed asked to limit worker migration. He said the present migration rate had a negative impact on housing policy, on the healthcare system and on the “community’s image itself”.

Home Secretary John Reid believes that a hardening of public opinion on immigration is reinforcing the case for restrictions. 

Damian Green of the UK’s Conservative party accused the government of having underestimated the impact of migrant workers in the UK since 2004. He said “by controlling the numbers we can make life much better for everyone”.

Meanwhile, a study by the British Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) indicates that the number of workers from Bulgaria and Romania likely to migrate to the UK next year is much lower than figures might suggest. Catherine Drew of the IPPR said that the UK government’s statistics were “leaked” and that there was a lack of methodology behind them.

Susan Anderson of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said that “there is a strong argument to pause for a period before opening up to workers from further new member states while we learn the lessons from experience to date”. On the other hand, former CBI Director General Sir Digby Jones warned that heavy restrictions on immigration would harm the UK economy. In a Sunday Telegraph article he said that “Britain is wealthier because of immigration”.