Benefit restrictions for EU migrants
In his speech today, David Cameron has set out plans for the proposed benefit restrictions to be placed on EU migrants. This information comes just as Cameron admits defeat in his hard-fought battle for a cap on EU migrants.
The planned curbs on welfare benefits accessible for EU migrants would see the time which migrants currently have to wait before being entitled to receive in-work benefits and access to social housing extended from three months to four years. Other proposals which were outlined in his speech are as follows:
- Stopping migrants claiming child benefit and tax credits for children living outside the UK
- Removing migrants from the UK after six months if they have not found work
- Restricting the right of migrants to bring family members into the UK
- Speeding up the deportation of convicted criminals
- Lengthening re-entry bans for beggars and fraudsters removed from the UK
- Stopping citizens from new countries joining the EU from working in the UK until their economies have “converged more closely” with existing members
These proposals are of course subject to next year’s general election result. However, Cameron today insisted that if the Conservatives come to power in May, restricting welfare benefits for EU migrants would play a central role in the negotiations with the EU. When speaking of Britain’s relationship with the EU, Cameron emphasised that he would “rule nothing out” if he does not get the changes he wants. Cameron did, however, voice his confidence in his ability to change the basis of EU migration to the UK without contemplating a split from the European Union.
