Eastern Europe arrivals fall amid squeeze on jobs

THE number of eastern Europeans arriving in Britain has fallen sharply, official figures reveal.

They show that 680,000 people from EU countries in eastern Europe, as well as Malta and Cyprus, came through UK airports and ports in the three months ending in December.

This compares with 795,000 in the last quarter of 2007 and represents a drop of 15 per cent. It is also far lower than the 980,000 figure for the three months up to September last year.

The Office for National Statistics data - which include workers, business people, students and holidaymakers - suggest the lure of Britain as an open-jobs market with easy-to-find work is fading as unemployment rises here.

The Government has been criticised for hugely underestimating the number of eastern Europeans who would come to the UK after their countries joined the EU following the major accession treaty in 2004. With dole queues now lengthening, the Government is facing increasing pressure to safeguard jobs for local workers, in the wake of a series of wildcat strikes over the use offoreign workers at a refinery in Lincolnshire.

The Government is unable to stop most EU citizens from seeking work here but Home Secretary Jacqui Smith highlighted at the weekend moves to tighten immigration rules for overseas citizens, from outside the EU, wanting to come to the UK.

She said regulations would be toughened on the most highly qualified workers who do not have to have a job in the UK before they enter the country.

From April, they will have to have at least a master's degree - rather than a bachelor's degree - and a previous salary of at least £20,000 to qualify. Skilled jobs will have to be advertised for at least two weeks in Jobcentre Plus branches before firms can seek people from outside the EU.