Immigration fears

Euro-MP Paul Nuttall

Fears about a new wave of Eastern European immigration, which would put British workers’ jobs at risk, have been expressed by MEP Paul Nuttall.

"The British labour market has already been hit by a deluge of immigrants, particularly from that area, and this situation is on course to become much worse," said Mr Nuttall, local UKIP Euro-MP.

And he also expressed fears that there will be an unprecedented crime wave in Britain when Bulgarians and Romanians have open door access to our borders.

Twenty nine million Bulgarians and Romanians will acquire the unrestricted right to live and work in Britain in 2014 under European “freedom of movement” rules.

"The government's Migration Advisory Committee has already expressed concern that the British labour market will suffer adverse effects as a result," said Mr Nuttall.

"We all know what happened when Poland and other Eastern European countries gained the same rights in 2004 and the scale of immigration is likely to be increased because of the economic crisis gripping Europe.

Bulgarian and Romanian citizens have had restricted rights to come to Britain since they joined the European Union in 2007, but those limits will be lifted at the end of December next year, opening the way for them to move freely.

"These 'freedom of movement' rules are damaging the job prospects of British people.

"No doubt the reluctance of the Home Office to predict the scale of the immigration from these two countries is because they grossly underestimated the wave of migration in 2004 when citizens from eight Eastern European were given full access to the UK job market.

“Currently 90% of cash point fraud is perpetrated by Romanian gangs. The Bulgarian administration is corrupt to the core, funded by the EU. If the rot is at the top, that filters down through society and we do not want that here.

"There is only way to stop the deluge of immigrants adversely affecting our labour market and also putting an intolerable strain on our housing stock, education and health services. And that is for Britain to leave the EU and govern our own borders," said Mr Nuttall.