Euro migrants set for UK benefit bonanza

Monday, 2nd May 2011

The Government must spell out how it intends to prevent hundreds of thousands of Eastern Europeans from travelling to the UK to draw unemployment and other benefits, following a change in the law on 1 May, says UKIP Leader Nigel Farage.

“As of Sunday, the working populations of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia have the right to draw benefits in the UK on the same basis as UK citizens. Their combined population is over 74 million people,” said Mr Farage.

“The benefits they are now entitled to, thanks to a European Union ruling and the impotence of our own government, include income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

“We know that a week’s unemployment benefit in the UK is worth more than a weekly wage for many in countries like Hungary. We also know that there are 38,000 children in Poland already receiving UK Child Benefit.

“What steps will the government be taking to protect our taxpayers from this benefit ‘bonanza’, which could be potentially catastrophic for our budget, at a time when the British people are facing cutbacks and austerity?

“In 2004, when these states joined the EU, our government failed to put in place proper transitional arrangements for immigration, as other EU countries did. Our Home Office estimated that 13,000 people a year would come here looking for work.

“Instead more than 800,000 came over the next 4 years – and that was to look for work. Now that they can claim benefits from the moment they arrive, what steps has the government put in place to limit the demand?”

Mr Farage added that the new rules would equally apply to a further 70m-plus EU citizens if Turkey joins the EU, as David Cameron has proposed.