Jobless migrants to face benefit curbs

Home Secretary Theresa May and Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said the measure would apply from April as they delivered a strongly-worded attack on Labour’s “shameful” record on the issue.

The move to stop access to housing benefit follows legislation rushed through Parliament to prevent migrants from claiming out-of-work benefits until they have been in the country for three months.

Writing in the Daily Mail the Cabinet Ministers said: “No longer can people come here from abroad and expect to get something for nothing.”

They said immigration had made a “tremendously rich contribution to our country... – but it must be controlled”.

“So we have tightened up the system ... And the latest figures show our reforms are working.”