John Page

Opposition parties call for inquiry into £10,000 tax credit payouts to EU migrants

The Express reports today that immigrants from Eastern Europe are eligible for up to £10,000 in tax credits once they come to the UK. Eligibility for tax credits is based on the claimant’s earnings for the previous year, regardless of in which country they were employed. The Express reports that the average annual salary in Poland is £4,700 a year. Anyone who earned less than £5,220 in the previous tax year is entitled to £2,345 in Working Tax Credit plus £8,060 if the person has two children, regardless of whether the children are based in the UK or not. Opposition parties have called for an inquiry into the situation.

The Express reports on Open Europe's prediction that up to 620,000 migrants from Romania and Bulgaria could come to the UK after their accession to the EU. It also quotes Labour MP Ian Davidson arguing that the UK should not have “open borders” and that the accession should be delayed for the “foreseeable future”. In the Telegraph David Rennie reports that Romanian officials have dismissed the prediction that up to 450,000 Romanians could come to the UK in the first two years after accession as “science fiction”. They argue that there are simply not enough workers available; however the Romanian government itself has predicted that up to 350,000 workers are set to leave the country once it joins the EU. The Sun reports that Romania is “in panic at exits”. The Independent reports that “Whitehall officials suggest the UK could become a magnet for people in the two nations due to join the European Union in January because unemployment is higher and the standard of living lower than in former Communist countries which entered the EU two years ago.”

In a letter to the Times pro-euro lobby group Business for New Europe argue that EU immigration has boosted the UK economy and call for the government to allow workers from Bulgaria and Romania into the UK. In a letter to the Telegraph Geoffrey van Orden MEP argues that Bulgaria should not be made “a scapegoat for the Government's catastrophic asylum and immigration policies” - whatever that means!

Sir Andrew Green from MigrationWatch argues in an article in the Telegraph that the immigration debate should focus more on immigration from non-EU states, rather than from the accession countries.

Actually, of course, it should focus on the total numbers.

Pensions

The Telegraph reports that changes proposed under the Pensions White Paper could allow immigrants to claim a full UK state pension after just one year working in the UK, compared to the current threshold of 10 years.