Groot Brittanië: 427.000 nieuwe Oost-Europese arbeiders sinds uitbreiding EU (en)

New figures released by the British government show that the number of workers that came to the country from central and eastern European member states is some thirty times higher than had been expected.

The statistics, published on Tuesday (22 August), reveal that 447,000 workers from the eight eastern countries that joined the EU just over two years ago have applied to work in Britain - of these 427,095 have been approved.

As the biggest of the new member states, Poland also has the largest numbers of workers in Britain with well over half coming - 264,560 - from the country. The next in number are Lithuanians and Slovakians.

The figures are much higher than originally predicted by the UK labour government which prior to the May 2004 enlargement suggested that between 5,000 and 13,000 would apply to work in the UK.

Romania and Bulgaria

The government has defended the original estimates by saying that they were based on the assumption that many more of the original 15 member states would also keep their markets open to workers from the east.

In the end, however, only Ireland and Sweden took the same path with other countries - Germany and Austria - likely to keep barriers in place for the maximum amount of time, until 2011.

The figures are likely to increase public and political debate about whether the UK system should be changed for Bulgarians and Romanians - both set to join the bloc next year.

Some UK government ministers have already indicated that a tougher line may be adopted with industry minister Alistair Darling last week saying that "properly managed" migration from the two countries is an option London is considering.

Affecting Ireland?

A decision taken by the UK to close its borders is likely to have a knock-on effect in Ireland, currently also without labour restrictions. So far, the Irish government has not said what it will do in the event of the UK closing its work doors but London's decision is set to influence Dublin's decision.

So far, however, no current member state has properly shown its hand on whether it will put up labour barriers to the two EU hopefuls but all are facing pressure to decide in the autumn with Bucharest and Sofia possibly becoming club members in January.

Reacting to the latest statistics, UK home office minister Tony McNulty said: "The latest worker registration scheme figures show that migrant workers from the accession states are benefiting the UK, by filling skills and labour gaps that cannot be met from the UK-born population.

"We are yet to take a decision as to what access Bulgarian and Romanian nationals will have to our labour market when they join the EU.

"Any decision will be based on objective factors including an evaluation of our labour market needs and the impact of the [last] accession, but also the position of other member states."