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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. 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.”
