European workers still flock to UK
THE number of European migrants working in Britain continues to rise despite the vote to quit the EU, official figures showed yesterday.
A total of 2.35 million foreigners from other EU countries had jobs in the UK between last October and December, says the Office for National Statistics.
A record 364,000 Romanians and Bulgarians were working in the country, an increase of 79,000 on 2016.
Workers from 14 long-term member states including Germany, Italy, Spain and France also rose, from 935,000 in October to December 2016 to 1,014,000 in the same period last year.
But in one notable change, 53,000 fewer workers from eastern European countries including Poland and Hungary were working here in the period compared with 12 months earlier.
Alp Mehmet of the population monitoring think tank Migration Watch said: “The figures show yet another increase in the number of EU migrant workers in the UK. This illustrates the need for a major decrease in immigration and Brexit is the opportunity.”
Other figures revealed the number of non-UK nationals from outside the EU working in this country fell by 68,000 to 1.17 million in the quarter to last December.
The employment figures, which came ahead of official migration statistics due today, show unemployment grew by the most in nearly five years last month.
There were 1.47 million people out of work in the quarter to December 2017, a rise of 46,000, giving a jobless rate of 4.4 per cent.
The claimant count, including Jobseeker’s Allowance and the unemployment element of Universal Credit, fell by 7,200 last month to 823,000.
ONS expert Matt Hughes said: “These figures simply look at the number of people in work and aren’t a measure of migration.”
Employment minister Alok Sharma said: “We are building a fairer economy that supports people to get into work.” Meanwhile it has emerged that migrants trying to sneak into Britain through Calais could be jailed for up to a year and fined under new laws proposed in France.
The clamp by President Macron’s government, which would also see shorter deadlines for asylum claims, follows criticism of apparent official inaction and fears of another summer of violence.