The effects of EU immigration
In May 2004 10 new countries joined the European Union. As members, their citizens have the right to travel, live and work throughout the Union, just as many British citizens have done. However, during a transitional period, the old Member States were able to limit access to their labour markets. Britain though, was one of just three countries that allowed access to the labour market from day one.
| Immigration Index |
| Eager to contribute |
| No strain on system |
| Benefits for Britain |
| Key Points |
At the time the Labour government was criticised by sections of the right-wing press for allowing accession migrants unfettered access to jobs in the UK. They predicted that public services would not be able to cope, that unemployment would soar and that native workers would be forced to accept lower wages because of the competition form eastern-European workers.
Experience has proved, however, that these fears were unfounded. It is true that more workers came than were expected; at least 447,000 in the first two years of accession. A working document published by the Department of Work and Pensions said that the economic impact of this has been "broadly positive, reflecting the flexibility and speed of adjustment of the UK labour market". The same document cited a reduction in eastern Europeans working on the black market, the main cause of wage pressure on native Britons.
And the 447,000 who made the journey are not the work-shy spongers much of the right-wing media would like to portray them as. Ninety seven per cent of them are working full time and paying tax, with a sizable proportion in the public services. As many as 6,500 are registered as bus, lorry and coach drivers, and 12,700 as care workers. Another 1,500 are working as teachers or classroom assistants, 600 as dentists or dental nurses, and over 2,000 as GPs, hospital doctors, nurses and medical specialists.
No strain on the benefits system
Most workers come here to earn a better wage, not to abuse the social security system. The majority are young (82% aged between 18 and 34) and do not have dependents living with them (93% did not, and only 3% had children of school age). The idea that schools are seriously struggling because a sudden increase in applications from accession nationals is a grosse exaggeration in all but a few exceptional cases.
Most come only for a few years or even months, before returning to their home country. Less than 2%, or 5,943, applied for tax-funded income related benefits such as income support or Jobseekers Allowance. And of those, only 768 (or less than a quarter of 1%) were allowed to proceed for further consideration. Only 110 accession nationals were given tenancies in local authority housing.
Indeed as they pay tax and National Insurance but claim few benefits and are relatively low level users of schools and NHS, they are as a group the largest net contributor to the exchequer.
Accession migrants tend to move to where the work is, filling gaps in the labour market. This not only increases the tax yield, but provides willing employees to businesses who need staff but have had trouble recruiting.
Similarly, over a million Britons benefit from the principle of free movement of people with 677,000 living and working in Spain, 301,000 in France and 132,000 in Germany. In total, there are 1.57 million living and working in other EU countries - more than triple the number of accession nationals that came here when their home countries joined the EU. If British people are to benefit in this way the principle must apply equally the other way around.
- The rhetoric surrounding economic immigration from Eastern Europe is unfair, the results have been largely positive.
- The UK economy is dynamic enough to positively absorb large-scale economic migration - it actually needs it.
- Accession nationals are benefiting the UK economy, filling labour gaps and supporting public services. Almost all accession workers are in full-time employment.
- Only a tiny proportion of migrants have attempted to claim benefits, and only a handful of those have had their applications put through to the second stage. They are therefore contributing far more to the exchequer than they are taking out.
- Even fewer are making demands of the local authority housing system.
- Millions of British citizens benefit from the principle of free movement facilitated by the EU.