Immigration fears prompt welfare change

British welfare rules are to be tightened in the coming months because of fears of significant immigration from Bulgaria and Romania after its citizens gained full rights from January to live elsewhere in the European Union.

Under the nascent plan, local authorities are expected to get instructions to give preference to locals who apply for flats or houses. There may also be restrictions on access to the National Health Service.

Fears that tens if not hundreds of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians could move to the UK have grown sharply in recent weeks, particularly after the government refused to release details of a study it had undertaken. Junior ministers involved in immigration, health, justice and other briefs are working to produce ideas for the cabinet’s home affairs committee headed by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg.

Misunderstanding

The fears, sometimes stoked by a Eurosceptic press, are based on a misunderstanding of EU rules, argues the European Commission. It points out that freedom of movement is not an unconditional right.

Under the rules, EU citizens have the right to stay in a member state other than their own for up to three months but they must be in a job, show good evidence that they can get one or show that they have enough funds not to be a burden if they are to be allowed to stay longer.

The local preference rule for housing, if implemented, would also affect British citizens living away from their home areas. This could have unpredicted consequences for local authorities in London seeking to house some of their tenants far from the city.

Support

Communities secretary Eric Pickles, supporting the move, said: “It does seem to me to be immensely sensible to ensure that if you work in an area or you’ve got a big connection – you might have been educated there or your family might be nearby – to receive some kind of priority in social housing.”

Labour said the pledges to tighten rules show the Conservatives were in disarray in the wake of last week’s Eastleigh byelection, where the party was pushed into third place by the anti-EU UK Independence Party.

“This government has spent the weekend flying more kites than Mary Poppins. Managing immigration in a fair way is really important. Yet what we are getting from the government is just an unseemly reaction to threats from their backbenches,” said Labour MP Chris Bryant.

“In a panicked reaction to Eastleigh they are briefing anything and everything they can think of that they are looking at for the future, instead of properly considered, substantive and deliverable proposals that work for everyone.”

The European Commission says just 38,000 of the 1.44 million people claiming one of the major dole benefits in the UK are non-UK EU citizens, and “the percentage of working-age EU migrants” claiming benefits is lower than the UK average.