Migrant numbers triple from new EU countries

Figures today show 60,000 citizens from the two Eastern European countries arrived in Britain in the three months to February, compared with 23,000 for the same period in 2005/06.

The Office for National Statistics estimates around one in 10 Eastern Europeans, or 2,000 a month, arriving at Britain's ports and airports plan to stay for more than three months to work or study.

The Home Office imposed restrictions on Romania and Bulgaria when they became EU members on 1 January-The number of their workers that can get job permits has been capped at 20,000 a year.

The limit was imposed in response to concerns following the large influx of immigrants from Poland and other new EU states.

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: "These figures demonstrate we were right to call on the Government to use the powers available to them to place restrictions on the numbers coming here from these two countries.

"Immigration can be of real benefit to the country but only if it is properly controlled including taking into account its impact not just on the economy but on the wider public service infrastructure."

However, Hammersmith and Fulham MP Greg Hands today called for the limits to be scrapped. He says the regulations, which affect a relatively small number, are easily bypassed, unfairly discriminate by treating the migrants as " secondclass" citizens, and encourage people to work illegally.

The Conservative MP will tell the Commons: "I strongly favour there being equal access to all citizens of European Union countries to the UK labour market.

"I am not approaching this debate with a general belief that the UK should loosen its immigration controls - but I strongly believe the restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians are wrong, counter-productive, expensive and chaotically administered."

The ONS figures also showed that the number of people travelling to Britain from Eastern Europe, Malta and Cyprus continues to rise, up from 598,000 to 690,000 in the three months to February, compared with the same period a year ago.

A Home Office spokesman said: "These figures are not about immigration. The vast majority of people in this survey came as short-term visitors."

In total, 32.3 million people visited the UK in the year to February, up seven per cent on the previous year, while the number of UK residents going abroad rose by 2.5 per cent to 66.8 million.