'Flood' from the EU fails to materialise

A predicted flood of eastern European migrants into Britain following the expansion of the EU has failed to materialise, official figures suggest today.

In the first two months only 8,000 newly-arrived workers from the eight new member states applied to stay in Britain.

Of the 24,198 eastern Europeans who applied to join the Worker Registration Scheme in May and last month, more than 14,000 were known to have already been in Britain before 1 May, the EU enlargement date. Farm and hospitality workers made up the biggest groups of new arrivals.

Home Secretary David Blunkett said fears of a surge in arrivals had been "unfounded".

But the Tories said the 8,000 figure missed groups such as students who may stay in Britain and seek work later.