Downing Street Says » EU Accession States/Immigration

Asked to clear up the confusion regarding people from EU Accession States working in the UK, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he did not think there had been any confusion about this issue. His colleague had explained the position last week. The Government remained committed to ensuring that the UK labour market was opened up to those who genuinely wanted to come here and work. However, we would not tolerate people who simply arrived here for the purpose of ‘benefit shopping’. David Blunkett and Andrew Smith had been working together to look at how we could tighten up procedures relating to so-called ‘benefit tourism’ in advance of 1 May. They were putting together a range of measures which were designed to stop potential abuse in this area. We expected the details to be set out shortly. Asked if that might be before recess, the PMOS said it wasn’t impossible. Asked if the Prime Minister would follow the example of other EU member states and introduce a derogation, the PMOS said that as we had told journalists at last Wednesday’s press briefing, our position regarding the EU labour market had not changed. The Home Secretary had set it out again today in the Guardian. We believed it was right for our labour markets to be opened up. In our view, we should take advantage of the fact that people wanted to come here to work, particularly since, as the CBI had pointed out, there were skills shortages in certain areas. That said, it was important for us to ensure that those who came to the UK were here to work rather than claim benefits.

In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that the labour market would be opened up from 1 May in terms of citizens being able to move freely across the whole of the EU. Some countries already had a derogation. We had made clear in the explanatory notes to the Accessions Act that there were safeguards if needed, but that we could exclude nationals of one or more of the eight relevant states from the right to work in the UK under powers contained in the Act. The notes also made clear that we did not believe those safeguards would be necessary. The reason why we were looking at this issue was to ensure that our benefits procedures were not abused.

Asked if he was indicating that the Government was ruling out a specific ban on people from the Accession countries coming to the UK to work, the PMOS said we had made that point clear last week. Mr Blunkett’s words in the Guardian amplified the position. Questioned about the benefits which Accession workers would be able to claim, the PMOS said that there was an issue relating to benefits under the Habitual Residence Test. The announcement from Mr Blunkett and Mr Smith was likely to focus on this area. Asked if the Habitual Residence Test would apply only to workers from Eastern European/Accession countries, the PMOS said that as he understood it, it would be virtually impossible to discriminate in favour of one group of European member states against another. Put to him that the Law Lords ruling which allowed dispersed asylum seekers to seek emergency housing anywhere in the country would act as an incentive for people to come to the UK, the PMOS said that the issue of asylum seekers was a different matter. Those coming to the UK from EU Accession countries would have a right to freedom of movement across the European Union.

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» Monday, February 9, 2004

EU Accession States/Immigration

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