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NEXT INFLUX OF MIGRANTS WILL CAUSE SHORTAGE OF HOUSING, ADMITS PICKLES
Communities Secretary Eric Pickles

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles

Monday January 14,2013
By Macer Hall

MINISTERS were under intense pressure last night to disclose the Government�s estimate for how many immigrants will pour into Britain next year from eastern Europe.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles conceded yesterday that a wave of newcomers from Romania and Bulgaria will cause �problems� in the housing supply.

He admitted that officials had made a forecast for the numbers likely to arrive when border controls are relaxed with the two nations next January but refused to reveal what it is.

His remarks triggered calls from Tory backbenchers for the Government to come clean about the potential size of the population surge, sparked by a change in EU rules.

In an interview on BBC1�s Sunday Politics show yesterday, Mr Pickles was still hedging, saying: �The truth is I don�t think anybody entirely knows the number that are going to be coming from Bulgaria or Romania.�

�
The truth is I don�t think anybody entirely knows the number that are going to be coming from Bulgaria or Romania
�

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles

He confirmed that Whitehall officials had done some �preliminary work� on estimating the numbers likely to come from the two countries � which have a combined population of nearly 30 million � and the possible impact on the supply of private and social housing.

Refusing to reveal the figure, he said: �That�s not something I think would be helpful in terms of to go through the numbers just yet.�

He added: �I think you�d have to have a degree of confidence in terms of the numbers before I would publicly say.

�And one of the reasons why we asked for fresh information is to make sure that before I make a public statement as regards these that I�m confident on the numbers.�

Under the last Labour government, the Home Office estimated that the relaxation of borders with new EU countries including Poland and Latvia led to 750,000 immigrants coming to the UK within three years.

Now a new wave of immigration is expected when quotas on work permits for migrants from Romania and Bulgaria are dropped under EU freedom-of-movement rules.

A surge in immigrants is expected in east London, where many Romanians have already settled, said Mr Pickles.

He added: �Given that we�ve already got a housing shortage, any influx from Bulgaria and Romania is going to cause problems. It�s going to cause problems not just in terms of the housing market but also the social housing market.�

Mr Pickles also rejected an estimate of 270,000 newcomers in two years from the two countries as put forward by Tory MP Philip Hollobone.

Mr Hollobone said last night: �It�s bad enough to open our borders to 30 million-odd people from Romania and Bulgaria; it�s even worse to do so without making an estimate publicly available about the numbers we can expect coming to our shores.

�The fact is these two countries are poorer relative to Britain than the other Eastern European countries allowed into the EU and so potentially even more immigrants are likely to come.�

Fellow Tory backbencher Peter Bone said: �What we need is a transparent and open debate on immigration so if the Government does have figures or estimates, they really should publish them.

�People have a right to know how many hundreds of thousands of Romanians and Bulgarians could end up coming here, putting even more pressure on our schools and hospitals and other public services.�

Sir Andrew Green, of the population think tank Migration Watch, said: �If the Government does have an estimate, they should publish it and explain the methodology.

�There is no doubt that an influx from Romania and Bulgaria is the main threat to the Government�s immigration objective.

�It is absolutely essential that the benefits system should not be allowed to become a pull factor for yet more migrants from the EU.�

A Whitehall insider said the population estimates would be made public. �This research is in its infancy but the figures will be released once more work has been done to confirm then,� the insider said.

WE CANNOT CONFIRM HOW MANY WILL COME HE SAYS, NONE IS THE ANSWER WE WANT, GIVE US A REFERENDUM YOU A----HOLES.