EU workers on rise despite Brexit vote

THE number of EU citizens working in the UK increased again last year.

In the 1 months to December the total rose 101,000 to .35million, according to the Office for National Statistics. This was driven by an increase of 79,000 in workers from Romania and Bulgaria. Nationals from these countries were given the right to seek employment here in 014.

But the number of EU workers in Britain is growing at its slowest annual rate for more than four years. Arrivals from Poland and seven other eastern European countries that joined the EU in 004 fell by 54,000. Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London, said: ‘Since the referendum, the number of people from elsewhere in the EU working in the UK has been broadly flat.

‘That doesn’t suggest a “Brexodus” but this is consistent with the immigration statistics which show that even before Brexit net migration from the EU has fallen sharply.’

He said this helped explain growing pressures on NHS staffing and in other sectors that relied on migrant labour.