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Minister's damning silence on migrants: Mark Harper stonewalls four questions on how many Romanians and Bulgarians will come to Britain

A committee is examining current UK benefit rules
There are fears that the wall of secrecy will leave town halls, schools and hospitals unable to prepare properly
Tory MPs said it was 'madness' to throw open UK borders without giving voters an idea of what to expect

By James Slack

PUBLISHED: 20:06, 11 February 2013 | UPDATED: 07:33, 12 February 2013

Ministers threw a cloak of secrecy yesterday over how many Romanians and Bulgarians they expect to flood into the country.

To fury at Westminster, the Immigration Minister snubbed four MPs who asked him to reveal the figures � saying he did not want to scare people.

Mark Harper said it would not be �helpful� to let the public know what to expect when border controls are lifted in less than 11 months. It is feared the wall of secrecy will leave town halls, schools and hospitals unable to prepare properly.
The visa queue at the British Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria as the Immigration Minister snubbed questions on how many Romanians and Bulgarians were expected to flood the country, saying he did not want to scare people

Long wait: The visa queue at the British Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria as the Immigration Minister snubbed questions on how many Romanians and Bulgarians were expected to flood the country, saying he did not want to scare people

Tory MPs said it was �madness� to throw open the UK�s borders without giving voters an idea of what to expect. The Government has carried out a study on how many of the 29million citizens of Romanian and Bulgaria might move to the UK when they get full EU rights in January.

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Communities Secretary Eric Pickles � who has seen the figures, and has warned of a potential shortage of housing � previously indicated they would be made available for public debate.

But, amid heated exchanges in the Commons yesterday, Mr Harper refused to share what the Government knows. He was asked repeatedly either to release the data or to explain what the Government was doing to deter a new wave of migration from Eastern Europe.
Migrants from Romania and Bulgaria will receive only the minimum level of benefits when they arrive in the UK, the Government has said

Migrants from Romania and Bulgaria will receive only the minimum level of benefits when they arrive in the UK, the Government has said

Mr Harper replied that he was chairing a Whitehall committee to look at how to stop migrants abusing the benefits system. Ideas include trying to make it harder for newcomers to access benefits or ask them to carry residence cards.

He told MPs: �Speculative projections about future inflows cannot be made with any degree of accuracy and are therefore not particularly helpful. That�s why the Government is focused on dealing with the abuse of free movement rights and also reducing the pull factors for migration. We want to make sure that when people look at the access to our benefits and our public services that no one thinks we are a soft touch in this country.�
Mark Harper
Keith Vaz

Concern: Immigration minister Mark Harper, left, says that the Government will ensure that the UK is no 'soft touch' when it comes to Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants, but Labour MP Keith Vaz, right, says the Government is 'confused' over the matter

An estimate by the MigrationWatch think-tank has suggested the number of arrivals will average 50,000 a year for the first five years � the equivalent of a city the size of Newcastle or Plymouth.

Tensions are rising among Tory MPs who want the Government to take firm action.

They fear David Cameron�s promise to reduce net migration to the �tens of thousands� will be fatally undermined if large numbers arrive from Romania and Bulgaria, two of the poorest countries in the EU.

Currently, they are subject to transitional controls which limit the number of work permits available to low-skilled workers to around 20,000 a year. But, from the start of 2014, these arrangements will be abandoned, giving workers free access to the UK jobs market.

Speaking at Home Office Questions, Tory Philip Hollobone said his constituents believed it was �madness to open our borders to 29million people�.

He called for ministers to force EU nationals who wanted to live in the UK for more than three months to apply for a residency card.
Immigration ministers are examining the UK's current welfare rules in a debate in the House of Commons

Immigration ministers are examining the UK's current welfare rules in a debate in the House of Commons

His colleague David Ruffley said action must be taken to curb �welfare tourism that can only add to British public spending�. Another Tory, James Clappison, asked Mr Harper specifically to comment on the MigrationWatch estimate of 50,000 a year. But Mr Harper repeatedly refused to provide any indication of numbers.

He said: �We want to make sure that we offer what we need to under the treaties, but no more.�

Ministers say they do not want to create �scare� stories � which some MPs have taken to mean the figure is high. However, an alternative scenario is that the number produced by officials is low, and would make the Government a hostage to fortune. Labour has never recovered from saying a mere 13,000 people would come from Poland in 2004, only for hundreds of thousands of workers to arrive.

Last night there were new demands to publish the figures.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said: �There is surely a need for an intelligent estimate. The worst option, surely, is just to muddle on.�

Keith Vaz, Labour chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, accused the Government of being �confused� on the issue and urged ministers to commission research on how many immigrants were likely to arrive.

>>>Britain is not a 'soft touch' for welfare tourists>>>>>Oh yes it is, thats why the world and his family and hangers on all want to come here. Our lame pollticians need to wake up and smell the coffee and stop robbing us to pay for them

Aaaaaand I think we know what will happen. We will get flooded and all the politicians involved will be terribly surprised, but promise that it won't happen next time they open the flood gates. Honest! Whatever happens, the agenda continues, the agenda to simple erase the country that was once called Britain by importing as many foreign cultures as possible, to dilute us to death, to drive us to leave. They don't care if this country becomes a hell hole, as long as it is their hell hole. Power above all else, at any cost

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

There is a very good letter in the Daily Mail today about a man who let a house to Bulgarians. They reneged on the rent and he cannot get them out until he evicts them which is expensive and takes months to achieve.
The reason for this is that the Bulgarians know that when they are made homeless they will get council accommodation. Already this scum is playing the system and thats before millions get a right of entry here.
Spain has introduced rules to stop these freeloaders settling. Why on earth are we not doing the same?
Cameron says today also in the Mail that he welcomes Indian(sic muslim) university students to the UK and hopes the graduates will stay on.
Has he not heard that there are housing shortages and due to overpopulation from migration serious holes in our infrastructure/
What sort of moron do we have as primeminister?