BRITAIN: Britain took in massively more eastern European workers than predicted in the five months after EU enlargement this year, figures showed yesterday.
Research commissioned by the Government estimated that between 5,000 and 13,000 people from the eight former Soviet bloc states would come to the UK annually, but from May to September nearly 91,000 registered to work there.
Home Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, said the worker registration scheme - created because of concerns the UK would see a huge influx of migrants - had been a "win-win situation" for Britain.
But the Conservatives accused the government of "spinning" the figures and said the immigration system was "a shambles".
New arrivals were taking up hard-to-fill job vacancies, paying tax and had already contributed £120 million to the UK's Gross Domestic Product, he said, while thousands of previously illegal workers had gone legitimate.
Figures also showed very few had claimed benefit handouts or council accommodation.
Mr Blunkett also pledged a new crackdown on immigrants being used as "domestic slaves".
In just one month this summer, 220 people - mainly from the east African country of Eritrea - claimed asylum because their passports had been confiscated by their domestic employers.
"There has been a significant upsurge in asylum claims over the summer for this reason," said Mr Blunkett.
He has already announced plans for a new criminal offence to tackle the problem. "We've got to get really tough with those employers who bring people into the country for this kind of exploitation."
Ministers said up to 45 per cent of the 90,950 on the worker registration scheme had been in Britain before EU enlargement on May 1, and had possibly been working illegally.
"Our common-sense approach to EU enlargement has put us at a clear advantage compared with the rest of Europe," Mr Blunkett told a TUC conference on migrant working in London.
"Illegal workers have legitimised their status and are contributing to the economy, benefiting from protection in the workplace and allowing us to focus resources on other forms of illegal working."
He added: "The contribution that is being made overall by migrants to this country is something just over a 0.5 per cent contribution to GDP.
"It's a substantial tranche of our well being."
According to Home Office figures, numbers registering on the scheme fell considerably in August and September from a peak in the early summer. There was also "anecdotal evidence" that many had already gone home, particularly in the agricultural sector.
The breakdown of the first five months showed: The largest group came from Poland (56 per cent), followed by Lithuanians (17 per cent), Slovaks (10 per cent), Latvians and Czechs (both 7 per cent), Hungarians (3 per cent) and Estonians (2 per cent). Slovenians were given as less than 0.5 per cent.
Ministers said EU accession state workers contributed £120 million to GDP in the first five months and paid an estimated £20 million in tax and National Insurance.
Mr Blunkett declined to consider an amnesty for illegal workers from outside the EU, following a request by some groups.
"One absolutely certain fact is that until we have an appropriate identity system and we know who is here legally and entitled to draw down on our free benefits, then we won't actually be able to monitor and properly register and do the job.
