Blow for Cameron as it emerges that 3 million working in UK are foreign

DAVID Cameron suffered a hammer blow last night as it emerged the number of EU workers in Britain has rocketed by 215,000 in just 12 months.

They included more than 120,000 Eastern Europeans – among them al most 50,000 f r om Romania and Bulgaria.

It means there are more than two million EU nationals working in the UK. The number from outside the EU also rose last year, by 39,000 to 1.18million. This brings the total foreign workers in Britain to three million, making up almost one in nine of the workforce.

The figures emerged as the Government disclosed that 31.4million people are in work in Britain – the highest since records began i n 1971 – i ncluding 28.28million UK nationals.

The unemployment rate has fallen to 1.69million, a rate of 5.1 per cent, the lowest for a decade.

The influx of migrant workers was revealed as the Prime Minister prepared to fly to Brussels today to secure his EU ‘deal’. In the wake of the figures, Eurosceptics denounced his negotiation as an ‘irrelevance’ which would do nothing to curb record levels of mass migration.

Despite immigration being the public’s number one concern, the PM has refused to seek any limits on the principle of free movement in his EU negotiation.

The figures overshadowed prepa- ration for the crunch EU summit which will take place today and tomorrow.

Last night, European Council President Donald Tusk warned there was ‘no guarantee’ that EU leaders would be able to do a deal on Mr Cameron’s reforms. The PM continues to face hostility from some Eastern European states and the French.

But if he can finalise his deal by the close of the summit, he is expected to fly home and immediately declare Britain’s historic referendum will take place on June 23. On a day of drama yesterday:

Mr Cameron held 40 minutes of talks with Boris Johnson but failed to secure his backing for the deal;

A ‘stressed’ PM held meetings and phone calls with junior ministers in a bid to win them over;

France launched a bid to stop his renegotiation deal being permanently protected in EU treaties;

Eastern European states continued to object to his plan to restrict migrant access to tax credits and child benefit;

It emerged the full details of how the curbs will work will not be known until after the expected June 23 referendum, leaving voters ‘in the dark’;

Government insiders insisted Mr Cameron could walk away from today’s talks if his deal is ‘watered down’ too much.

No 10 has made no attempt to restrict free movement of workers as part of the talks. Instead, Mr Cameron has settled for restricting migrants’ access to tax credits in their first four years in the UK.

Tory MPs called the changes ‘feeble’ and experts at the Office for Budget Responsibility said this will make little or no difference to the numbers pouring in. Eurosceptics argue that when the Chancellor introduces a £9 Living Wage Britain will be even more attractive to Eastern European workers.

The Labour Force Survey yesterday showed the number of people working in the UK has increased by 532,000 in the year to 2015’s fourth quarter, of which 254,000 are nonUK nationals.

The number of EU nationals working in the UK was up by 215,000 in a year, including 78,000 workers from Poland and other exEastern Bloc countries that joined the EU 12 years ago. Some 48,000 Romanians and Bulgarians were also added.

The figures show the total number of foreign workers in the UK is now 3,216,000. The total number of EU workers has risen by 840,000 to a record 2.036million since Mr Cameron came to power in 2010 pledging to cut mass migration to ‘tens of thousands’. Last year, the number of non-EU foreign workers increased by 39,000 to 1.18million.

Tory Eurosceptic Peter Bone said: ‘These figures show the PM’s renegotiation is completely irrelevant. Many of the people coming in from Eastern Europe are taking jobs that could go to young British people on the unemployment list.’

Vote Leave’s Matthew Elliott said: ‘The renegotiation won’t restore control over our borders.’

Government officials said the PM had worked tirelessly to secure a deal which addresses issues of most importance to Britons. Aides said that since the election he had visited 20 of the 27 other EU members and held talks with the leaders of every other country.

He has also held talks with the heads of the EU Commission, Council and EU Parliament more than 25 times.

‘Jobs that could go to Britons’