Cameron accused of ‘windy rhetoric’ on immigration

The Prime Minister used a keynote speech on immigration to declare that he will not allow Britain’s welfare system to be a “soft touch” for people from overseas.

But he was immediately accused of “scaremongering” after it emerged that only a small proportion of incomers from new EU states in Eastern Europe actually claim unemployment benefits.

And Labour dismissed the speech as “windy rhetoric”, arguing that some of the key employment and housing measures trumpeted by the PM are in reality no different from existing schemes.

Speaking in Ipswich, the Prime Minister said the previous Labour government let immigration get “far too high and badly out of control”.

He said: “While I have always believed in the benefits of immigration, I have also always believed that immigration has to be properly controlled. Without proper controls community confidence is sapped, resources are stretched and the benefits that immigration can bring are lost or forgotten.”

From next year, arrivals from the EU will be stripped of jobseekers’ benefits after six months unless they can prove they stand a “genuine chance” of finding a job, he said.

New guidance will create a “local residence test” to give local people priority in the waiting list for social housing, after the proportion going to foreign nationals rose from 6.5 per cent to nine per cent.

But shadow immigration Minister Chris Bryant said there was little new in the PM’s plans.

“On the Jobseekers’ Allowance being available to immigrants for up to six months, that’s already the rule,” he said. “Similarly in relation to housing, he is saying the local authority would be able to impose a housing residency test. That power already exists.”