East European immigrants 'will stay in UK despite crunch'

THE number of Eastern Europeans living in Britain will continue to rise despite ministerial claims that the recession will lead to many returning home, an official report has found.

The Department for Local Government and Communities found that "stocks of migrants" from Poland and other recent EU member states who are now living in this country "may increase over time" rather than diminish.

The department is yet to be publish the report but has disclosed its key conclusions. It lists family ties, a desire to leave children in British schools, and their jobs in "relatively resilient" sectors, such as agriculture and food processing, among the factors behind immigrants choosing to remain in Britain.

The report, signed by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, states that "while inflows to the UK are likely to decrease during the downturn, this does not mean that migrants already living and working in the UK are likely to leave". The overall total of citizens from the A8 countries, the official term for new EU member states from 2004, is actually likely to increase over the coming years, it says.

The findings contradict claims by immigration minister Phil Woolas less than two months ago that many of the East Europeans who had come to Britain since 2004 had returned home and that the number of newcomers was "dramatically falling".

Mr Woolas claimed migration statistics showed the number of arrivals during the last three months of 2008 had fallen to their lowest level since the countries joined the EU. He also claimed that a large number of those who had come since 2004 had returned home.

Today the shadow immigration minister Damian Green accused Mr Woolas of making misleading statements in an attempt to ease concerns about foreign workers taking British jobs. He added: "We now have ministers contradicting each other over an extremely important part of immigration policy."

CASE STUDY

THE Polish owners of a gardening business in London today told how it is expanding despite the recession.

Maja and Jarek Grugel set up their landscape gardening firm - Orange Gardenance - in 2007. They say the recession has not affected them so there is no reason to return home.

"The business is fine," said Maja, 27, who gave birth to her first child, Filip, in January. "I can't say we feel the recession to be honest."

In fact she and Jarek, 28, both Warsaw Agricultural University graduates, sense the business is still continuing to expand. Mrs Grugel added: "We were prepared for people not to want landscaping and perhaps have more maintenance to take care of what they have already but it's not like that."