The BBC reports that the government’s eagerness to stop so-called ‘benefits tourism’ will lead to rules changes that will limit access to benefits, health care and housing to new immigrants and some British people.
Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007. The UK took advantage of a term in the accession agreement that allowed member states to impose limits on Bulgarians and Romanians entering the UK labour market. These special arrangements expire at the end of 2013, after which Bulgarian and Romanian people will have the same rights as other EU citizens to move to the UK to take a job, giving them access to benefits, health care and housing.
The Migration Watch UK think tank has estimated that 50,000 Romanians and Bulgarians will come to the UK each year for the next five years, although the government insists that it has made no official estimates of the number.
BBC political editor Nick Robinson says the government is drawing up a package of measures designed to bring the UK into line with policies in other European member states already deemed legal by the European Court of Justice. Ministers are also checking whether entitlement to some benefits could be linked to contributions, which would have the effect of excluding new arrivals from eligibility