By Richard Johnstone | 23 December 2013
The government has been urged to provide extra funding to councils that experience an increase in the local population once European freedom of movement restrictions on Romanian and Bulgarian workers are lifted next week.
The Institute for Public Policy Research today said Britain will be able to absorb Romanian and Bulgarian workers settling in the country after European Union controls end on January 1. However, the left-leaning think-tank called for contingency measures to be put in place to support public services.
Last week Prime Minister David Cameron announced that proposals to stop people from the EU claiming UK benefits within three months of their arrival would be fast-tracked into place before the new year.
However, the IPPR’s In transition: Romanian and Bulgarian migration to the UK report said such last-minute changes, which would likely have little effect on the number of people legitimately coming to work or study, should be avoided.
Instead, the government should be helping local authorities prepare plans to provide extra primary school places or implement local housing policies.
Ministers should also give extra funding to areas that have to deal with unexpected pressure on housing, schools and hospitals.
The last government’s Migration Impacts Fund, originally paid for by a £50 levy on visa fees, was scrapped in 2010.
IPPR senior research fellow Alex Glennie said it was ‘entirely legitimate for politicians to be concerned about the pace and scale of European migration flows’.
However, the last decade of migration had shown the UK’s economy and society could adapt to European migration flows as long as ‘pressure points’ were quickly identified and addressed, she added.
‘There is little to suggest that these lessons have been learned and applied in the run up to January 1, but even now it is not too late to take some practical steps to alleviate any issues that might arise.’
