The government is considering a plan to impose a cap of 75,000 on annual EU immigration following a review of freedom of movement policies, it has emerged.
But the suggested policy, which emerged in a leaked government report, has already been criticised by one senior Tory backbench MP who said that the government will not be able to stem an expected increase in immigration in January from Bulgaria and Romania.
The reported proposal, and criticism from a senior Conservative, reflect increasing tensions within the party over how to deal with fear from the electorate over immigration which has been fanned by sections of the media.
Rows between Tories over Europe are expected to escalate in the new year as MEPs, MPs and councillors seek ways of stopping the rise of the UK Independence party, which has gained popularity because of its hardline stance on EU immigration. Ukip is widely expected to gain seats in May’s European and local elections.
The document, drawn up by the Home Office and seen by the Sunday Times, reportedly says unlimited immigration from the EU has damaged the job prospects of low-skilled Britons, encouraged benefit tourism, put pressure on public services and caused the “build-up of social tensions”.
It suggests a range of measures to cut immigration, including a cap of 75,000 migrants per year and tougher employment criteria.
David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, said on Sunday that the review was “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted”.
“On 1 January the accession period comes to an end for Bulgaria and Romania and they’ll then have free movement of people, the same rights of movement as anybody else in Europe. There are huge fears that there will be thousands, tens of thousands, if you believe Ukip hundreds of thousands, of people coming into Britain,” he told BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show.
“So it needs to be dealt with straight away. It needs to be dealt with by saying to the EU: ‘We’re sorry, this can’t work. Let’s just rethink this, put it off for a couple of years and rethink it’,” he said.
A cap on EU immigration would require a renegotation of Britain’s links with Europe, something David Cameron has promised to do if he is re-elected in 2015.
In a further development, a group of Tory backbench MPs have written to Cameron asking for an immediate national veto over all EU laws.
According to the Mail on Sunday, the MPs write: “This proposal would enable the government for example to recover control over our borders, to lift EU burdens on business, to regain control over energy policy and to disapply the EU Charter of Fundamental Human Rights.”
Also speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, the shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, stressed the importance of stopping migrant workers undercutting their British counterparts.
He said: “We were very clear, and we raised this issue with the home secretary over eight months ago, that you have to have proper transitional controls in place. So what will happen in respect of people coming in from Bulgaria, Romania, wanting to claim out-of-work benefits, housing benefit, jobseeker’s allowance, for example?
“So will that come in and will the restrictions they are talking about come in in January? No indication so far.
“To the extent that people do come in and they can show that they can work and bring economic activity, here are appropriate measures being implemented to stop them undercutting British workers, but also to stop them being exploited by employers.
“For example, by ensuring you have proper enforcement of the national minimum wage and increasing the fines 10-fold as we have suggested.”
He also called for a properly balanced debate on the issue, saying migration had brought a lot of benefits to Britain.
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