Now 250,000 more migrants are heading this way

It estimated that 50,000 migrants a year will head to the UK when visa restrictions on the two new EU nations are lifted next January.New freedom of movement rules from Brussels could also

trigger an influx of Roma gypsies from other parts of Europe into Britain, the report by MigrationWatch warned.It comes days after David Cameron and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles

refused to release the Whitehall forecast for immigration from the two former Eastern bloc countries, which have a combined population of nearly 29 million.

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Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said: “It is not good enough to duck making an estimate of immigration from Romania and Bulgaria.“It is likely to be on a scale that will have

significant consequences for housing and public services.” So-called “transitional controls” limiting the number of migrants from Bulgaria and Romania who can come to Britain are set to

expire at midnight on December 31.The curbs were introduced to prevent a repeat of the immigration chaos when Poland, Latvia and other former eastern bloc countries joined the EU in 2004.The

report said: “Our view is that they are likely to add between 30,000 and 70,000 to our population in each of the next five years, of which about half will appear in the immigration

statistics.“That number could be considerably higher if there were to be a movement of Roma to the UK or if some of the nearly one million Romanians in both Spain and Italy should transfer

to Britain.”MigrationWatch warned that migrants would be attracted by Britain’s generous welfare system.“As soon as they can find work, Romanians and Bulgarians will have full access to

benefits including in-work benefits,” it said. A family of four in which one adult works at half the average wage could almost double its post-tax income through benefits and tax credits, it

said. Only in three other countries – Denmark, Ireland and Luxembourg – would they receive more.Low wages in the two former communist countries would also attract immigrants to Britain,

where average earnings are about five times higher, the report said.Tory MP Stewart Jackson said: “The Government can’t sit back and let this happen. Conservative MPs are rightly worried

about a sense of drift and the Prime Minister must take personal charge of this issue.”

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