800,000 eastern Europeans are in the UK
Daily Star
Cameron Millar
February 27, 2008
MORE?than 800,000 East European immigrants have poured through Britain’s borders since 2004.
And more than 140,000 of them are claiming some sort of state benefits, shock figures revealed yesterday.
The true number of immigrants and claimants will be much higher, experts say – laying bare the full immigration shambles of “soft touch” UK.
The 800,000 figure does not include the self-employed – who make up a large number of new construction workers – or those flooding in from Romania or Bulgaria.
Huge
In stark contrast, the number of failed asylum seekers deported was down by a quarter and stood at a tiny 13,595.That leaves at least 450,000 more who are still here.
And huge numbers of immigrants coming here since Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the EU in 2004 are raking in cash from the welfare state.
Just over 89,000 are claiming child benefit, and there have been 4,900 successful applications for income support, Jobseeker’s Allowance or state pension.
A further 51,500 are claiming tax credits, and 1,021 are receiving help for homelessness. Separate Govern-ment data showed applications from 30,570 Bulgarians and Romanians had to work in the UK had been granted, after they joined the EU this year.
There were 796,000 applicants to work here by the end of last year from people from former Communist East European nations of which 766,000 were approved, according to the Home Office figures.
But bureaucrats admit that they have no idea how many have stayed on in Britain.
Meanwhile, the number of failed asylum seekers and their dependents removed from the UK fell by 26% last year.
And the 19% jump in asylum applications in the UK in the last quarter of 2007 contrasted with the situation in 15 other EU countries which saw an 8% fall.
Critics claim that many asylum seekers are flooding into the UK because they already have pals here or know they can get benefits.
But Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: “The figures prove that last year we deported someone every eight minutes and we got our priorities straight.
“We deported the highest ever number of foreign law-breakers – up by a huge 80%”.
It was also revealed yesterday that England will be bursting at the seams within 25 years with 20% more people crammed in.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal that there will be 464 men, women and children packed into every square kilometre by 2031, compared with 395 today.
And by next year, England is on course to overtake The Netherlands as the most crowded country in Europe.
