John Page

Today the front page of the Sun reports that the British Government will “slam the door” on migrants from Eastern Europe in response to comments by Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling. Darling told the BBC that there wouldn’t be an ‘open door’ policy to migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania. He said, “We need to consider what our requirements are. No one who deals with immigration can fail to realise you have got to have a system that is properly managed, properly controlled. We need to balance the skills that we require — and take care of the other things, like healthcare and education.” However the Home Office has said that no final decision has been taken on whether to set limits for Bulgaria and Romania.

A Government source is quoted in the Sun saying, “Generally, business is of the view that we need free and open labour markets. So it’s interesting that the Trade Secretary is saying this.” However, a spokesman for Europe Minister Geoff Hoon signalled that the Foreign Office is in favour of applying the current system to Bulgaria and Romania. He said, “A ban would go against the treaties we have already incorporated into English law. That can only be done by passing new laws and renegotiating the treaties we have already signed.”

On Sunday Conservative Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green announced that the party wanted the Government to introduce controls on the number of Bulgarian and Romanian economic migrants who could work legally in the UK. He said that they should “impose conditions similar to those which other European countries adopted when Poland and other Eastern European countries became members of the EU... By controlling the numbers we can make life much better for everyone”.

The News of the World reported that the number of workers from Eastern Europe signing up to the UK’s Worker Registration Scheme has increased by 662,390 – taking the total number of workers registering to 1,472,870.

A MORI poll for the Sunday Times reported that three-quarters of UK voters want tougher laws on immigration. In the Sunday Telegraph former CBI Director General Sir Digby Jones argued that the immigration from Eastern Europe into the UK since 2004 has helped the economy. Saturday’s Guardian quoted Denis MacShane saying, “There may be a case for delaying by one or two years full opening of the UK labour market, but for Britain to join protectionist countries in being frightened of letting EU citizens work here would send wrong signals.”