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David Cameron in Slough to see immigration officers at work
The UK is to halve to three months the time EU migrants without realistic job prospects can claim benefits.
David Cameron said the "magnetic pull" of UK benefits had to be addressed so people came for the right reasons and the rules "put Britain first".
The prime minister also warned people in the UK illegally: "We will find you, we will send you home."
Labour said the PM's rhetoric masked a record of "failure" on immigration and "firm action" was needed.
On a visit to see immigration officers at work, Mr Cameron said: "We want an immigration system that puts Britain first so if you come here illegally... we will make it harder for you to have a home, to get a car, to get a job, to get a bank account and when we find you - and we will find you - we'll make sure you are sent back from the country you came from."
Driving licences
He unveiled details of the plans to curb the rights to claim some benefits for some EU nationals who are legally in the UK in a Daily Telegraph article on Tuesday.
He said the last Labour government presided over a "no-questions-asked" welfare system that "drew migrants to the country for the wrong reasons".
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Norman Smith: It's about the message, not money
He cited other measures recently coming into force to tackle abuses - such as new powers revoking the driving licences of those not entitled to be in the country - as evidence that the government was building "an immigration system that puts Britain first".
"We are making sure that people come for the right reasons - which has meant addressing the magnetic pull of Britain's benefits system," he said.
"We change the rules so that no-one can come to this country and expect to get out-of-work benefits immediately - they must wait at least three months.
"And we are announcing today that we are cutting the time people can claim these benefits for. It used to be that European jobseekers could claim JSA or child benefit for a maximum of six months before their benefits would be cut off, unless they had very clear job prospects.
"We will be reducing that cut-off point to three months, saying very clearly you cannot expect to come to Britain and get something for nothing."
The government has been steadily tightening the criteria for which EU migrants are eligible to claim benefits after coming under political pressure.
In January, it announced that EU migrants would not be able to claim out-of-work benefits until three months after arriving in the UK and would only be eligible for jobseeker's allowance for six months unless they have genuine prospects of finding work.
Mr Cameron announced that this time limit - which also applies to child tax credit and child benefit - will be halved to three months from November.
He has said his party's target of reducing net migration to below 100,000 by the time of the next election, from its current level of more than 200,000, is still achievable.
Analysis, By Robin Brant
With his scars still healing after UKIP's big win in May's European elections David Cameron is trying, again, to tackle those two most contentious issues - immigration and welfare.
It's the latest in a series of measures aimed at making the UK less attractive to foreigners who don't want to work. It's not clear though how many will be affected. A report last year claimed 600,000 out-of-work migrants were here.
The EU said the number claiming Jobseekers Allowance was far lower, at around 60,000. The measure could save money but this is about trying to show voters that the government, and the Tories in particular, are addressing that most vexatious of issues that has helped swell Nigel Farage's support.
Labour says the reality is the government is nowhere near achieving its target of getting net migration down from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government had failed to take "firm action" to address the issue.
"Behind the rhetoric the true picture of this government on immigration is one of failure, with net migration going up, despite David Cameron's promise to get it down to the tens of thousands," she said.
"The government should get a grip and finally implement Labour's proposals to stop the undercutting of wages and jobs for local workers by the exploitation of low-skilled migrant labour, including banning recruitment agencies that only hire foreign workers and pressing for stronger controls in Europe."
| A8 country* migrants | Native population | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
*Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Poland. Note: Employment rate refers to % of working-age population. Source:Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration |
||||
|
Men |
Women |
Men |
Women |
|
|
Employment rate |
90.4% |
74.2% |
78.3% |
71.1% |
|
Claiming benefits or tax credits |
12.4% |
23.7% |
24.2% |
55% |
|
In social housing |
6.5% |
7.7% |
15.9% |
18.3% |
The UK Independence Party's migration spokesman Steven Woolfe called the PM's announcement "a cynical and vacuous attempt to fool the British public".
He said: "Britain is crying out for an Australian-style points system for migration, so that we can judge potential migrants from all over the world on the same basis: whether they can make a positive contribution to life in our already-overcrowded country.
"We will never be able to introduce such a system while we are locked in the EU."
Latest analysis by the Migration Advisory Committee, which advises ministers, suggested the impact of low-skilled immigration on GDP, productivity and prices since 1997 has been "very modest" and there had been virtually no effect on the overall employment rate of UK-born workers.
But it concluded that low-skilled migration had had a "small" negative impact on the wages of low-paid British workers while there had been knock-on effects on the availability of housing and school places in areas of the country with disproportionately high level of incomers.
What is your reaction to this policy? Are you an EU migrant? If so, what do you think about this change? You can send us your views and experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk using the subject line "migrant benefits".
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