The number of Romanians and Bulgarians working in Britain has fallen since European Union’s freedom to work rules were relaxed on January 1st – despite fears of an immigrant “flood”.
The number fell by 4,000 to 140,000 – though the total, which includes those who have legally worked as self-employed in Britain before the EU rules changed, are 28,000 higher than a year before.
In the House of Commons, British Prime Minister David Cameron noted that the "numbers had actually gone down" – a barb directed at the UK Independence Party, which made considerable play of the issue late last year.
Welcoming figures that showed that the number of people employed in the UK is higher than ever before, Mr Cameron went on: “Three-quarters of the new jobs over the last year have gone to UK nationals.”
Labour MP Keith Vaz, who went to Luton Airport on New Year's Day where he met just one Romanian arriving to get work, said immigration from the two countries was "little more than a trickle" and "unsurprising".
“Those, including Ukip, who promised the end of the world on 1st January, now owe the public and those from Romania and Bulgaria a full apology,” said Mr Vaz.
However, the Migration Observatory at Oxford University cautioned that “it is too early” to know what the long-term implications of the relaxation of the rules on Romania and Bulgaria, who joined the EU in 2007, will be.
Before January 1st, the numbers of Romanians and Bulgarians working as self-employed contractors in Britain rose by 10,000 in the first three months of every year, bar one since their countries joined. In 2011, 20,000 more came.
Restrictions
"Until we have complete data for 2014 it is impossible to achieve any definite conclusions about the impact of the end of restrictions," said Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, a senior researcher at the Migration Observatory.
Meanwhile, Sir Andrew Green, who heads Migration Watch UK, said his organisation stood by its prediction that 50,000 Romanians and Bulgarians will come to the UK each year for the next five years.
Meanwhile, 30.4m people were at work in Britain and Northern Ireland between January and March this year – the highest number ever recorded since such numbers began to be collected in 1971.
Pointing to “the massive fall in unemployment”, which has dropped by 133,000 in three months, Mr Cameron said the 280,000 people who had got work was the highest figure ever recorded for a quarter.
