More Than 200,000 Romanians And Bulgarians Working In UK For First Time

There are more than 200,000 Romanian and Bulgarian workers in Britain for the first time, with the total number of workers from European Union (EU) countries reaching 2.1 million, government figures have revealed.

Compared to a year ago, there are nearly 300,000 more EU residents in Britain, representing a 16 per cent rise.

The total figure for Romanians and Bulgarians reached 219,000, a 30,000 increase on last year.

Citizens of Romania and Bulgaria could previously only to work in Britain in a limited set of circumstances, but in January 2014 restrictions were lifted and they gained full access to Britain’s jobs market.

Meanwhile, the total number of workers from all the eight former Communist countries that joined the EU in 2004 is just under a million, up 200,000 in the space of two years.

The figures show how unlikely the government is to meet its target of cutting immigration to the “tens of thousands” under EU border rules.

Prime Minister David Cameron launched his EU renegotiation yesterday by sending a letter to Donald Tusk, president of the European Council. Although it said that the EU needs to work with Britain to reduce immigration, it mentioned nothing about the UK taking back control of its own borders.

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage told Breitbart London: “These numbers demonstrate how inside the EU, migration into the UK is hopelessly out of control.

“The warnings from UKIP about opening the door to Romania and Bulgaria were ignored and so today we see a surge from those countries, with numbers surpassing 200,000 from those two countries for the first time.

“Cameron himself opened the door to Romania and Bulgaria and he recently reiterated his support for Turkish EU membership too which would mean an open door to another 75 million Turks.

“Whilst Mr. Cameron fiddles with migrant benefits which frankly changes nothing, those who want controlled immigration rather than a complete open door clearly now must vote to leave the EU in the referendum.”

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