David Cameron wants to prevent damage to the UK's labour market
Ministers are looking at measures to curb immigration from Bulgaria and Romania when existing controls are lifted at the end of this year, Downing Street confirmed yesterday.
David Cameron’s official spokesman said the Prime Minister wants to prevent potential damage to the UK labour market from a fresh influx of migrants, but acknowledged that Britain will have to operate within European Union rules on the right to free movement.
Transitional arrangements in place since 2005, which limit the rights of 29 million Bulgarian and Romanian citizens to live and work in other EU states, will expire in December.
Campaign group MigrationWatch has warned as many as 250,000 could arrive in the UK over the next five years.
The Government is coming under growing pressure to publish its own estimate of the scale of expected immigration from the two newest EU states.
Mr Cameron’s spokesman yesterday confirmed that ministers were considering ideas to prevent a surge in immigration.
He said: “We are in the process of considering what we may be able to do. Clearly, there is a European legal framework within which we have to operate.”
