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thomas davison

European Commission's call for Britain to open its doors to benefit tourists 'would cost the taxpayer �155m every year'
�Iain Duncan Smith attacks 'enormous' cost of plan to end residency test for anyone arriving to claim benefits
�Minister draws up battleplan with 17 other countries to 'end this nonsense'

By Matt Chorley, Mailonline Political Editor
PUBLISHED: 08:51, 13 September 2012 | UPDATED: 09:24, 13 September 2012

..European demands that Britain scrap rules aimed at curbing benefit tourism could cost the taxpayer �155m a year, Iain Duncan Smith has warned.

The Work and Pensions Secretary is in talks with other countries about how to block the move by the European Commission to end the Habitual Residence Test.

It would mean the government having to pay benefits to anyone who arrives in the UK, without having to prove that they have been working or are eligible to live here.

Iain Duncan Smith says the residence test is vital to protecting the UK's benefits system
Mr Duncan Smith insists the rule is �vital� to stop benefit tourists coming to Britain with the aim of claiming state handouts.

He is challenging the EU�s power to interfere in the policy area and has enlisted the support of other European countries including Germany, Sweden and Finland to end the 'nonsense' idea of allowing open borders rules to give access to state help.
More...�Workless Britain: Number of households where no one has EVER had a job falls by 20,000 but that's still 340,000 homes which have always been supported by taxpayers
�Minister hits out at �real failure of mainstream politics� on immigration

Mr Duncan Smith told MPs: �The European Commission wants to end the habitual residence test. As a result, we would have to pay benefits to EU migrants as and when they arrive and they would not have to prove that they have been here, are working and have a residence.

�I believe that that is fundamentally wrong, as do the Government. The habitual residence test is vital to protect our benefits system and to stop such benefit tourism.

�I also do not believe that the EU has any rights in that area, and we are working with other countries that feel much the same.
I want to put it on the record that the costs of the proposal could be enormous Iain Duncan Smith�I want to put it on the record that the costs of the proposal could be enormous. If we did not have the British residency test, it is estimated that right now the cost would be something in the order of �155 million, although that could change.�
Officials at the Department for Work and Pensions fear the European Commission is �chipping away� at the Habitual Residence Test and the way it allows Britain to protect its benefits.
The ministry's budget is under pressure because Chancellor George Osborne has said he wants to find an additional �10bn in cuts from the welfare bill, something Mr Duncan Smith has resisted.

Figures suggest the majority of migrants who come to Britain do so to work, not claim benefits.

The fear is that removing the test will encourage more people to move from other countries in the EU.

At least 17 countries have vowed to contest demands by the European Commission for an end to the residence test when deciding who can claim benefits
The UK government organised a conference of 17 EU member states including Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland who all expressed their concern at the Commission�s proposal.

�We are working with them on a set of agreed principles that we will present to the EU, which I hope will end this nonsense,� Mr Duncan Smith added.

He stressed that he wanted to support people who �through no fault of their own, fall out of work and we want to do that for our own citizens�.

�We also accept that for those who have been here for a period of time - hence the habitual residence test - because it is important to support those who are genuinely resident in the UK and delivering something for the UK economy.

�However, it is not right for us to end up with a system�other countries agree on this�in which someone can literally arrive here and, only days after, decide that they are not working and, therefore, they are eligible for benefits. That would be quite wrong for the British taxpayer.�

Tory MP Marcus Jones said people in his constituency would be �horrified� and the Commission�s proposal while Gareth Johnson said the residence the test is �vital in preventing abuse of our welfare state�.

The number of foreign nationals claiming an out of work benefit within 6 months of registering for a national insurance number has fallen since 2002-03. In 2010-11, 6.6 per cent of people were claiming a key out-of-work benefit within 6 months of receiving an NI number.

Iain Dunkin Doughnut should know that they are already doing it, 30 thousand from Spain alone this year signed on, tell them to F----off back to where they came from, they wouldnt give you a job in their country.
I tried once to get a job in Spain at a power station and was told to go back home to the UK and apply for it from there !!!!! just tell these people the same thing whats good for the goose etc.

2Anne · Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 399 Location: Norfolk

Just when you thought things were bad they get worse.
Can you imagine Romanian gypsies hearing about this?. Thousands would be over in a flash. Our country would be bankrupted fairly quickly.
The EU is poisonous and the soon we get the hell out of it the better.
This ruling is utter folly of the worst kind.