Block migrants from poor countries, urges PM

By Steven Swinford, and Peter Dominiczak

Migrants from poor countries that join the European Union should be banned from moving to Britain, David Cameron has suggested. 

The Prime Minister said unrestricted immigration should only be allowed from countries that have a similar level of wealth to the UK. 

It comes as Mr Cameron faces a rebellion from more than 70 Tory MPs, including former ministers and select committee chairmen, over plans to allow an unlimited number of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants to move to Britain from next year. 

The MPs, who include former ministers and select committee chairmen, will this week accuse ministers of trying to block legislation to extend a ban on migrants until 2019. 

On Friday night the European Commission accused Mr Cameron of behaving “irresponsibly” and “legitimising xenophobia” with his “rhetoric” on immigration. 

Laszlo Andor, the Hungarian European Union Commissioner, prompted outrage by suggesting that David Cameron’s policies on immigration are weakening “the European spirit”. 

In a question and answer session on Twitter, Mr Andor threatened the UK with legal action and once again claimed that the Coalition’s position over Romanian and Bulgarian migrants is “nasty”. 

Asked whether the UK reaction to Bulgarians and Romanians has “the potential to undermine the European project”, Mr Andor said: “Responsible politicians should avoid legitimising xenophobic reactions that indeed weaken the European spirit.” 

He added: “[The] UK should avoid rhetoric [and] measures that run risk of UK being seen by others as nasty.” 

The Conservatives are aware that their success in deterring “benefit tourists” and limiting will be critical to their election hopes. 

Earlier this week Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, announced that migrants whose grasp of English is so poor they would struggle to find work in Britain could be denied benefits. 

Mr Cameron on Friday said that new restrictions are needed to avoid a repeat of the “mistake” of allowing 1.5million immigrants from Poland and Eastern Europe to come to Britain in 2004. 

The restrictions would apply to new members of the European Union such as Turkey, which is currently in negotiations about joining. 

Under the proposals, migrants from new European Union countries will only be allowed to move to Britain once their economy has reached a comparable level to the EU average. 

Mr Cameron said: "We're putting in very tough measures and controls but I think in the future we will need to go further. 

"When other countries join the European Union we should be insisting on longer transitions and perhaps even saying until you reach a proper share of an average European Union GDP you can't have freedom of movement. 

"Its only when you have a real imbalance when you have a poor countryand a much wealthier country that you get these vast movements. 

"Perhaps saying until your economy, until your wealth is similar to our wealth you can't have unrestricted movement." 

Mr Cameron said that allowing immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries to move to Britain without restriction under Labour in 2004 was a "very bad decision". 

He said: "Poland and the other eastern European countries joined in 2004 and they were given instant access to British jobs even though Poland and those countries are much poorer than us. 

"As a result the numbers that came were far bigger than anyone expected, 1.5 million came, it was one of the biggest movements in population we've seen in the last few decades. 

"That was under the last government and it was a very bad decision and we must not make that mistake again." Telegraph