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Migrant Workers Pull Their Weight, Survey of Employers Shows
The influx of migrant workers into the local job market has proved a boon for the city's economy, according to the new findings of a survey carried out by a leading accountancy firm.

More than three-quarters of Exeter employers - 78 per cent - agree that East European workers are now important for the city's economy. Almost half of the city's owner-managed businesses - 47.5 per cent - say that their East European recruits are now progressing towards promotion, with almost as many - 42 per cent - seeing this as a real possibility.

Brian Payne, chief executive of Bishop Fleming, said: "It is not difficult to see the reasons for these findings.

"A third of our respondents said that their reason for recruiting East European staff was the skills shortage among the local workforce, while more than half cited the reputation of East European workers for being reliable and hard working.

"Despite national news stories suggesting that Polish and other East European workers are now beginning to return home, only 15 per cent of our respondents have noticed an out-flow, while a further 40 per cent agreed that it might be happening.

In parts of Europe, migrant workers head home
Four years after Polish graphic designer Chris Rychter headed to Britain to find work and study as a citizen of the European Union, he and his wife have returned home.

Part of a swelling tide of migration back east, they are having a house built in a suburb of the Polish capital.

"It took me just three days to find a job back in Warsaw," Rychter, 27, told Reuters. "We never saw Britain as home... We went for the adventure and to get some professional experience."

Their move highlights strong economic growth in the new EU member states and an accelerating slowdown in Britain -- but also how quickly a pragmatic younger European generation has adapted to working in the 21st-century globalised economy.

Economists now see a turnstile or pendulum effect of people moving between countries after quite short stints, in search of better conditions.

Statistics on migration within the 27-nation EU are not precise, but around half of an estimated one million people from eastern Europe who moved to Britain since 2004 have already returned home, according to a recent report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), a British think-tank.

Work applications from the eight east European countries that joined the EU in 2004 were down 13 percent in the January to March period from last year, British government data show.

For many eastern European migrants, recent currency market trends favour a return, and Poland's government wants people back to help plug labour gaps that are stoking wage inflation at a time of fast rising food and fuel prices.

Business could suffer if migrants leave
SCORES of businesses across East Anglia could be forced to close if urgent action is not taken to stop migrant workers from leaving the region it has been warned.

East of England Development Agency researchers have urged landlords and local authorities to improve housing conditions for migrant workers as an incentive to keep them in the area where they contribute £360m to the local coffers annually.

It is estimated that of the 85,000 eastern European labourers who have arrived in East Anglia since 2004 around half have already returned to their home countries.

There are additional concerns that the London Olympics, which require 182,000 builders to complete construction works in the capital by 2012, will suck more foreign workers out of the region.

Richard Hirst, chairman of the NFU's horticulture board, said farming was in serious danger of losing millions of pounds this year if the issue is not addressed immediately.

He said: “The UK's soft fruit is just starting and workers have not come forward as we've expected.

“I'd be absolutely flabbergasted if we do not have crops left behind this year because people can't get enough labourers. We're trying to find evidence of crop losses this year. Last year it was bad enough. We've got evidence that several million pounds worth of crops were left behind because there were not enough people to pick them. The millions of pounds that were left behind last year will be small fry compared with the potential losses incurred this year. ”

What future for Polish workers abroad?
Poles are wanted as employees by French farmers and European elites, even in Germany, says a report by one daily newspaper. EU countries which opened their markets to Poles, are generally satisfied with the Polish workers. But in Germany, which hasn't opened the job market to Poland, and where the black job market is thriving, two-thirds of respondents would like to delay the opening.




In German society, which is generally most worried about losing their jobs, the fear of Polish immigration is most prevalent among the unemployed and poorly educated people, and among residents of the former Eastern Germany.



This is according to the social research by OBOP polling center, commissioned by one Polish daily newspaper.



But other than that, Poles are generally welcome as workers all over Europe, but especially in those places, where they are already working legally. And it gradually becomes just a stereotype, that Polish people are employed only in low-skilled jobs, says Agata Piątek, head hunter of a Polish recruitment company: 'From what I can see, when we first joined the EU, we proved that Polish people are hard-working and that they are also very good professionals. So, right now, I think we can see Polish people working in the London City, in banks and accounting jobs there's plenty of them, but also physical workers in many other countries, like Spain, or Germany.'



The French are most enthusiastic about opening their job market to Poles. Especially farmers are in favor, counting on cheap work force. At the same time, low-skilled workers are mostly against Polish immigrant employees, in fear of competition.



The Brits are generally happy with Poles, whom they see as hard working, intelligent and responsible.



The same holds for Ireland, says this Catholic chaplain for immigrants from Dublin: 'The Polish people do very well, because they have a strong reputation in Ireland now of being very hard workers, good workers, very talented and very keen. Many of them are very young, enthusiastic and boy, do they work hard... so, they are well received.'

Farmers alarmed over limits on migrant workers
The UK Government is to be asked to review restrictions on immigrant agricultural workers that could leave hundreds of tonnes of fruit and vegetables unpicked on Scottish farms this summer.

Rural Affairs Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead is to write to UK Citizenship and Immigration Minister Liam Byrne to raise concerns about the decision to allow only 16,250 Bulgarians and Romanians into Britain through the seasonal agricultural workers scheme this year.

It had previously offered places for up to 25,000 for young people from across Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union states.

The change has alarmed farmers, many of whom are already facing problems finding sufficient staff to harvest their crops. News of Mr Lochhead’s letter to the UK Government came in response to a question from SNP MSP Aileen Campbell in which she raised the concerns of farmers. The agricultural industry is already raising evidence to show the UK Government the difficulties its decision will cause.

The £100-a-day job that local workers won't do
IT'S the £100 a day job that unemployed Scots don't want.

A Lothian farmer today revealed that he has to rely on migrant workers because not even jobless people in the area want to try their hand at fruit picking.

But far from it being a tiresome job with little reward, workers at the farm who regularly average up to £100-a-day say they can't believe local people don't want to do the job.

It is just one of many industries across the Lothians which now rely almost exclusively on migrant workers, despite figures showing that there are more than 11,000 people officially classed as unemployed in the Capital alone.

Tracking changing migration trends
A report by MPs has concluded that new ways of monitoring migration should be established as a priority.

Political clashes over recent migration trends show how numbers have become central to debating what the UK is - and what it may become.

A critical report from the Commons Treasury Committee points clearly to problems that have been raised time and again.

Reliable facts about the population are vital for a modern nation because those numbers dictate everything from how much tax can be raised to how it will ultimately be spent.

An apparent lack of hard facts about migration has town halls worried.

They say that unless the government can properly count people, local services will not get the right amount of money to serve them.

Many areas acknowledge they have gained economically from migration. But they also worry that the public spending needed to cope with a changing population, such as specialist language teaching in schools, hasn't been following.

Corby is top town for EU Migrants
More than 2,300 migrant EU citizens have applied to work in Corby in the past three years.

And nearly 2,000 Europeans have come to work in Wellingborough in the same period, according to a new survey.

The figures place Corby as having the 13th highest percentage of its workers from so-called A8 countries, with Wellingborough the 41st most popular local authority area for foreign workers.

The Institute for Public Policy Research report measures migration to the UK from A8 countries – the eight poorest countries which joined the EU in 2004. They include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia.

Its figures show the number of people who applied for the workers' registration scheme, to which all A8 workers must be signed up before they can be employed.

Corby has 28 EU workers per 1,000 residents and Wellingborough has 16 per 1,000 people.

"I think employers in Corby have benefited from immigration because workers from the EU are real grafters. They are prepared to work very hard.

"They do tend to fill the gaps for employers that British workers can't fill."

The survey estimates there are 665,000 EU workers in the UK, an increase of about 550,000 since early 2004.

Employers and unions want migrants Workers Registration Scheme scrapped
The Workers Registration Scheme (WRS) should be scrapped, according to an alliance of employers, unions and migrant groups.

The TUC, the Association of Labour Providers, the National Farmers Union (NFU) and the Federation of Poles in Great Britain have called on home secretary Jacqui Smith to end the scheme.

It was introduced in May 2004 to prevent benefit tourism and to measure the number of workers migrating from the new European Union member states of Eastern Europe.

But the alliance of employers, unions and others claim the scheme has outlived its usefulness and now produces inadequate statistics at great cost to migrant workers and inconvenience to both them and their employers.

The TUC-backed Commission on Vulnerable Employment, which reported earlier this month, has already called for its abolition.


TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The Worker Registration Scheme is no longer necessary, effective or fair. It costs £90 to register - which is two days wages for someone on the minimum wage - and National Insurance numbers would provide much better information about where migrants are working."

£200million to train British workers to have skills like Poles
Ministers will today launch a £200million project to create an "army" of British workers with the same skills as eastern Europeans.

It will pay for specialist training colleges supplying staff for the construction, IT, science and engineering industries.

The move comes amid warnings the UK faces a shortage of 600,000 skilled building workers, 500,000 IT staff and more than 300,000 trained in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Skills Secretary John Denham also warned firms could not rely for ever on Polish and other eastern Europeans plugging the skills gap.


He said: "Eastern European migrants have filled shortages but, in the longer term, this is not something we want to rely on. People can go as quickly as they come."

City could find itself short of Polish skills
Increasing incentives for Polish workers to leave Derry and find jobs elsewhere could spell problems for the city, says the head of a local multi-cultural organisation.



Eddie Kerr, director of SEEDS, said: “I have just returned from a trip to Poland and more and more Polish workers are returning home from the UK and Ireland.

“The reasons for this are the fall in the value of the pound, the increasing volume of work available in Poland and the increase in value of Polish wages.”

6,000 migrants have arrived in North Wales in the three years
AT least 6,000 Eastern European immigrant workers have arrived in North Wales in the last three years.
A study found 6,835 people from the ‘so-called’ A8 countries including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, are now living in North Wales.

The government expected 13,000 migrants to arrive in Britain per year, however, the true figure is nearer 800,000.

But the study’s authors at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said 40% of ‘A8’ workers are now returning to their homelands.

Industry leaders last night said the loss of the extra workers would be noticed among businesses and recruiters across North Wales.

Continental workers have 'positive' impact
MORE than 19,000 migrants from eastern Europe have come to Kent since eight new countries joined the European Union in 2004.

A report examining the impact of migrants into the country reveals that 19,530 registered for work across all parts of the county, but also estimated that as many as 50 per cent had already left.

Polish nationals account for the highest number.

The report also found that at 84 per cent, employment rates among migrants from the new EU countries were among the highest of all immigrant groups. Very few claim state benefits, and on average work about 46 hours a week.

Making Polish food from supermarket ingredients
Many Polish immigrants are returning home, according to a report this week, but the big supermarkets have been stocking up on their native foods. Will classic dishes such as beetroot soup or pillowy dumplings, find their way into British kitchens?

Polish workers are in demand - as Labour has its eye on an extension
Mariusz Rapa has been reading up on Reading: the town, its political groups and the issues they consider important in one of the most finely balanced and keenly fought local elections in the South.

For two decades the town has been a Labour stronghold but the party’s grip has been loosening since 2004. Today, with many of its most senior councilors up for re-election, it is expected widely to lose control of the council in a defeat that would symbolise a broader retreat: the loss of Labour’s remaining toe-hold in the South.

In this maelstrom, Mr Rapa, 27, a Polish immigrant who arrived in Britain two years ago, represents a part of the Reading electorate who lack a lifelong political affiliation or a long-developed sense of disaffection with central government.

There are an estimated 10,000 Polish immigrants in the town: enough to persuade the local paper, the Reading Chronicle, to publish a Polish edition, and a local supermarket to install a Polish goods aisle.

Poles are equally well represented in the high street. There are two Polish shops, a Polish pub and a Polish church. In east Reading, there is a Polish police community support officer. In the forthcoming political contest many Poles are now preparing to cast their vote.

Nearly 10,000 names have been added to the electoral register since 2005. The council cannot say how many of these are Polish migrants. It has, however, sent officers to inform the 1,000-strong congregation at the Polish church that, as EU citizens, immigrants have the right to vote in local, as well as European, elections.

The three main political parties have tried to court this minority, sending out letters in Polish informing new residents of their qualities and aspirations. Last week the Conservatives published their manifesto in Polish.

Drill Hall Lines Up Second Polish Day
All things Polish will be on offer at the Lincoln Drill Hall during a special day-long event.

Following on from the huge success of Polish Cultural Day last year, the venue is once again hosting the event and organisers say it will be fantastyczny - or fantastic in English.

Visitors can brush up on their Polish speaking skills, enjoy a cultural display and sample some traditional food at the event on May 3.


Marysia Flilip (31), of Monks Road, Lincoln, a member of the city's Polish Group, says the event is meant to help bring communities together.

"The idea is to integrate migrant workers into the community through art, physical contact and just being with other cultures," said Miss Filip, a care worker for Rayners in Lincoln.

Firms 'must pay for migrants' English lessons'
Companies should pay for immigrant workers to learn English, Hazel Blears said yesterday.



The Communities Secretary told MPs that legislation may be considered if negotiations with organisations benefiting from overseas labour failed to reach agreement on voluntary contributions toward lessons.



Language skills have been made a central plank of the Government's immigration policy, with anyone intending to stay more than a short time expected to learn English.



But there is a big demand on the present £300 million budget for teaching English as a second language, Miss Blears said.



"I feel quite strongly that employers should be taking a significantly bigger role in helping to fund some of the essential English language classes," she said.

Foreign labour is keeping hospitality trade in business
A HOTEL owner in Lyme Regis claims the hospitality business is becoming more reliant on migrant labour - as she takes on more foreign workers.

Kathryn Richards, of the Alexandra Hotel in Pound Street, recently appeared on the BBC One documentary Meet the Immigrants, singing the praises of her foreign staff.

The programme followed the recruitment of Jolanta Bikova from Latvia and focused on the staff members from abroad, namely Eastern European countries.

But Mrs Richards was quick to point out that of 30 staff only seven were foreign - six from Eastern Europe and one from France.

"I'm not putting up an advertisement saying 'Polish people only!'" she said. "But if most of the applications come from them, then that's what you have to choose from."

Emphasising that her foreign employees were paid above the minimum wage and the same as English staff, she put to bed claims that her motives were financially based.

Poland cancels plan to use tax breaks to win back migrants
A Polish government campaign to lure back emigrants who are living and working in the UK has folded after officials discovered planned tax breaks were unconstitutional.

As a result hundreds of thousands of Poles who may have been considering leaving the UK may now choose to remain.

Polish premier Donald Tusk swept into power last October on a pledge to bring in preferential tax rates and special loan agreements for returning Poles. Two-thirds of UK Poles voted for Tusk and his PO party in parliamentary elections.

But the the planned tax breaks for returning emigrants would favour them over Poles who stayed put and would therefore be unconstitutional, reports the Polish daily Polska.

PO party MP Jakub Szulc, who has been involved in the government's programme for returning emigrants, said: "We would have to either introduce the same terms for all Polish citizens or not introduce any at all."

However, the government is planning to launch an information campaign to encourage the emigrants to return, which will include adverts in the UK press.

OECD says Ireland needs to integrate migrants
Over the last few decades, Ireland has transformed its economy. In a drastic turn-around from past decades, more people are now trying to migrate into the country than emigrate. As a result, Irish society has recently been dealing with the ramifications of integrating a large, foreign-born population.

A new study released on 16 April 2008 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that Ireland has more work to do in integrating its immigrants.

In the OECD report, entitled 'Economic Survey of Ireland, 2008', the authors ask what can be done to make sure immigration is a continued success. According to the OECD, the pace of inward migration "has been remarkable in recent years" with most migrants being young and well-educated.

Migration 'pinch points' coping well, Blears tells MPs
The Lincolnshire town of Boston, a quarter of whose population is new migrants, and the rural district of Arun, in West Sussex, were today named as migration "pinch points" that have gone through a recent rapid population change.

The communities secretary, Hazel Blears, told MPs that both Boston and Arun had coped well with the arrival of migrant workers, offering welcome packs, "myth-busting" leaflets for the settled population and two-way language classes for migrants and local policing teams.

An inquiry into the impact of immigration by MPs on the communities and local government select committee also heard a warning from the government-sponsored Community Development Foundation that new patterns of racial prejudice and hostility towards migrants were emerging, particularly among settled communities of Asian and Caribbean origin.

Blears said extra money was being made available for public services to cope with the impact of immigration, but she warned that unless employers of migrant labour made a greater contribution to the costs of English language lessons, the government would consider using legislation to make them pay.

Poles Leaving Ireland
Poles, constituting the largest ethnic minority in Ireland, are leaving the host country in increasing numbers.

In the first quarter of 2008, the number of Polish immigrants registered in Ireland dropped from 19,000 to 12,000, which is approximately a 40 per cent decrease compared with the same period a year ago, informs the Irish news portal Independent.ie.

Number of Polish Pupils Have Doubled
THE number of Polish children in the county's classrooms has more than doubled over the past 12 months, making Polish the most widespread foreign language spoken by youngsters in the playground.

New figures from the 2008 Northamptonshire school census, compiled in January by Northamptonshire County Council, show primary and secondary schools had to cater for 824 Polish-speaking pupils, a rise of 430 on 2007.

But despite the increase, Northamptonshire County Council will receive £7,000 less for its share of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant from the Government, which is partly used for integrating migrant children in schools.

Reacting to news the authority will now receive £612,000 for 2008/9, a spokesman for the council said: "The recent demand in schools for support with Eastern European languages is part of a longer-standing pattern of immigration into the county and, as such, many schools have well-developed strategies and practices for working with newly-arrived pupils.

"The successful integration of Polish children into schools has been helped partly due to the support of the existing Polish community, who have given their time and energy into settling and supporting new arrivals. As a result, many Polish children are making rapid progress in school."

Are We Poles Apart?
There are just under 500 eastern European migrants living in West Berkshire according to the most recent district council figures but a visit to workplaces, schools, pubs, restaurants and shopping streets across the district would suggest that the real figure is much higher than this.

With a growing Polish community apparently large enough to support two Polski-Skleps (polish shops) in Newbury alone, just how many Eastern Europeans are there in the district and what role do they play in our economy?

Newbury MP, Richard Benyon, summed up the position of Poles in the local economy saying that they filled huge local skills gaps, especially in difficult-to-recruit areas such as construction and care.

He said: “I don’t yet understand why we are finding it so difficult to recruit for the caring profession.

“Occasionally I receive bigoted remarks from people, but I remind them that when they get old we’ll see how much they need them.”

“We owe a debt of thanks to these people”

'Polish' weather just in time for get-together
Polish and English Eastbourne residents joined together to hold a party at Community Wise on Sunday.

The temperatures may have plummeted outside, but inside there was plenty of warmth between partygoers.

The bash was held to celebrate the launch of Polskie Eastbourne, the town's first Polish language newsletter, as well as the first anniversary of local English language teaching project English in the Community (EITC).

More than 40 guests took part in festivities which featured English and Polish food, music and dancing.

Members of the Polish community, EITC students and Community Wise staff joined the Polish folk group in a sing-along and had a go at traditional English folk dancing guided by a local dance instructor.

Polskie Eastbourne editor Miriam Miklaszewska and team member Agnieszka Diffenbach, who organised the event, were amused to find 'Polish weather' had arrived just in time for their party. "This is good, right now it's just like Poland outside," said Agnieszka.

Miriam said she was delighted by the response to their newsletter so far.

"We've left copies of the newsletter in various places around town and most of them were gone within days. It was a very good start for our new project.

"Everyone in the Polish community seems to have read or heard about it. Now we can't wait until we launch our new website in June."

TUC offers free training to Polish workers
The TUC is offering free training for Polish workers employed in cleaning, security and building services across Tower Hamlets and the City of London.

The Vulnerable Workers Project (VWP), led by the TUC and funded by the Department for Business and Enterprise (BERR), is organising free training courses for workers on rights at work, trade unions membership, building links with community groups, and providing advice to other workers and community members.

The VWP, based in Canary Wharf, has also published an employment rights information booklet in Polish to help Polish workers better understand UK employment law.

Polish workers comprise about 65 per cent of A8 nationals that have come to Britain to work, but are the lowest paid workers in the capital. Three in four (75 per cent) A8 nationals earn between £4.52 and £5.99 an hour, compared with just 12 per cent of all UK workers in London.

Migrant workers are 'key to success'
THE successes of the North West economy are down mainly to the influx of migrant workers, claim South Cheshire business experts.

The flood of thousands of mainly Polish workers into Crewe since the country joined the EU has had a real impact on the area's financial standing.

Skills shortages and a poor work ethic amongst Northwest workers are highlighted as some of the main factors influencing businesses to recruit from overseas, according to the latest survey from Chambers of Commerce North West.

John Dunning, chief executive of South Cheshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "The comparative success of the North West economy in recent years has been largely due to the influx of willing migrant workers from Eastern Europe.

Highly skilled migrants vital to UK economy
The Guardian is reporting on a study that says a record number of highly skilled migrants will contribute an estimated £77 billion to the UK economy over the next four years.

The report, compiled by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), found that skilled migrants keep the British economy from lagging behind by filling key skills shortages. A majority of these migrants work in education, health care, and government services. These workers account for 2.5 percent of the nation's workforce.

Polish incomers swell Good Friday congregations in city
MEMBERS of the Capital's Polish community helped swell numbers at services held across the city yesterday to mark Good Friday.

Hundreds gathered for mass at St Mary's Cathedral for services held in both English and Polish.

In recent years, the cathedral has employed a number of Polish priests in an attempt to reach out to new parishioners arriving from eastern Europe.

Yesterday, Father Tadeusz Puton conducted mass for several hundred Poles shortly after the day's main English ceremony.

It was standing room only as the faithful packed in to mark the day of Christ's crucifixion.

Construction industry skills shortage 'set to worsen'
There are not enough skilled workers in the construction sector, it has been suggested.

According to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), the industry is looking to open up a further 20,000 apprenticeships to address the skills shortage.

It is thought that the problem could worsen if migrant workers from countries such as Poland leave the UK

200 migrant workers arriving in Merseyside each week
MERSEYSIDE has witnessed an unprecedented explosion in the number of foreign nationals moving to the region to work.

Experts believe a combination of Liverpool’s growing global profile, coupled with a sudden rise in jobs in sectors such as construction, has helped to make Merseyside attractive to overseas workers.

Now employers and the Government are being urged to make sure that new arrivals are well protected.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said it was important immigrant workers were protected from rogue employers.

He said: “Workers, such as Polish workers, are making a substantial contribution to Britain's economy, and sectors like agriculture and construction would struggle without their valuable contribution.

Better information and support needed for Polish workers
A LEADING academic has warned that new Polish migrants to the north of England often have little accessible official information and support.

Ian Fitzgerald, academic from the School of the Built Environment at Northumbria University, was speaking at a seminar hosted by law firm Irwin Mitchell in Newcastle last week.

He warned that better information and support is needed for Polish workers to integrate properly into the communities and workplaces where they are based.

"Polish people are arriving in the UK and helping to improve our economy," he said. "They often fill jobs that are below their current qualifications and are sometimes hard-to-fill – there is a real potential to harness these latent skills to improve the north east economy.

Fewer new EU workers register
The number of east and central European migrants coming to work in the UK dipped last year for the first time since their countries joined the European Union in 2004, according to Home Office figures.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said employers could no longer “take for granted the availability of a steady supply of willing and eager workers from Poland and other less developed EU states”.

The inflow during the final quarter of last year was the lowest since the first quarter of 2005, when “the UK jobs market provided a powerful magnet, particularly for Polish workers”, it said.

Tide of migration turns
The huge influx of Polish workers, which has transformed the labour market across the country, has peaked, official statistics have disclosed.

Danny Sriskandarajah, head of migration at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said some were choosing to work in other EU countries which were loosening employment rules. "Migration from Poland is very unlikely to continue at the levels we have seen in the first few years we have seen after enlargement," he said. "It has always been a question of when these flows started drying up, rather than whether they would."

Employers have taken on 296,180 east Europeans in office and administration jobs; 144,450 in hospitality and catering; and 77,245 in farm work. David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The comparative success of the UK economy in recent years has been largely due to the influx of willing workers from eastern Europe."

Tougher rules for migrants on citizenship
Foreign nationals seeking British citzenship will have to prove they can speak English, have paid taxes and have broken no laws as part of the latest toughening of immigration controls unveiled on Wednesday.

Migrants will also have to demonstrate a degree of integration into the local community by engaging in activities such as charity fund-raising events, local playgroups, school governorships and helping run a local sports team.

Those convicted of a criminal offence, however minor, during their stay in the UK as temporary migrants will have their application for citizenship refused and will be subject to removal from the country.

Jacqui Smith, home secretary, described the plans as a “new deal” for migrants in which the rights and benefits of citizenship would be made available to those who could “demonstrate a commitment to our shared values and a willingness to contribute to the community”.

How immigrants are revitalising London
The one-sided view of immigrants as leeches that worm their way through the indigenous population is laying the basis for social conflict

Not a day passes without a storm of anti-immigrant propaganda in the press. The leading exponent of this mischief is the Daily Mail. As I write, it announces a "Polish baby boom: fears for NHS and schools as a thousand Polish children are born every month". It goes on: "On current trends, there will be more than 13,000 such births this year," while "240,000 eastern European children have arrived in Britain's schools".

Yet the parents of these children pay taxes, too. And it takes no more than two months in their first class for them to catch up with local children and progressively bypass them.

Young Poles Climb the Career Ladder Abroad
It seems that soon gone will be the days of low-skilled manual labor for young and talented Polish professionals who go abroad to look for jobs. Well educated and highly qualified Polish university graduates begin to realize their real market value and start to get jobs which correspond to their qualifications.

An influx of Eastern European labour is helping North East business
An influx of Eastern European labour is helping North East business. But it's vital that the workers' rights are upheld, says David Gibson

Officially there are now approximately 40,000 Eastern Europeans working in the North East, roughly the same as the population of a small town such as Hartlepool.

The true figure is possibly higher.

Suffice it to say that the influx of new labour is raising new challenges and opportunities for North East business.

Poles not disappointed by work prospect
POLES Joanna Dyr and Maja Kachellek have not been disappointed by work prospects since they arrived in Swindon.

They are among thousands of immigrants who have come to the town in recent years to make the most of career opportunities.

The Government released figures on Tuesday which showed that more than half of 2.1m jobs created since 1997 went to migrant workers.

Ireland to Recruit Police Officers from Eastern Europe
Irish government and police service management are considering measures to attract foreign policemen, including professionals from Eastern Europe, Bulgaria's News Agency reported, citing anonymous governmental source from Dublin.

Bank prints newspaper adverts in Polish
A high street bank is printing newspaper advertisements in Polish to promote a special account for immigrants.

NatWest’s Welcome account was launched in January to cater for rising numbers of Polish immigrants following the expansion of the European Union.

The bank offers a Polish language telephone banking service and has Polish-speaking staff in some branches.

Worker shortage still holding back city firms
THERE is still a shortage of key workers across a range of industries in the Capital, an authoritative labour market report revealed today.
Edinburgh has seen a sharper decline in the availability of permanent staff than any other Scottish city, according to the Bank of Scotland.

EU 'blue card' to tempt skilled
The European Commission is set to unveil a Blue Card for skilled immigrants, based on the US Green Card

The card would allow suitably qualified people and their families to live and work within the EU.

The EU says it needs 20 million skilled immigrants over the next 20 years, and is very short of expertise in engineering and computer technology.

How Polish Workers Have Built a Home in Britain
The number of Polish people in Britain has reached record levels after the expansion of the EU, making it the fastest-growing ethnic minority.

Dispelling myths about migrants
Migrants now account for one in eight of the UK’s working age population and are boosting economic output by £6 billion each year.

Migrant report is backed by MP
SELBY MP John Grogan has defended a Government immigration report, saying it gives a "pretty balanced picture" for the region and its Polish immigrants.

The changing face of Scotland
IT has helped to give the dwindling population of Scotland a much-needed boost but a report published yesterday suggests that immigration has also brought its fair share of problems.

The findings, from the Migration Impacts Forum, show that the influx of migrants in recent years, particularly from eastern Europe, has led to increased antisocial behaviour and rising community tensions, particularly in areas previously unused to large-scale immigration.

Former president speaks about Irish immigration
The former president of Ireland, speaking at Notre Dame's Washington Hall, said that immigration brings "new and complex challenges to the Irish identity". Mary Robinson was the keynote speaker at the "Race and Immigration in the New Ireland" conference, held by Notre Dame's Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies.

Migrants in Britain - the official verdict
Migrants are more reliable and harder working than British-born workers and are boosting economic output by £6 billion a year, according to a government study published yesterday.

UK better off with immigration, official report shows
Migrants are more highly skilled and often more reliable and hardworking than British workers and are fuelling the country's economic growth to the tune of £6bn a year, according to the first official study of their impact published today.

Migrants contribute £6 billion to UK economy
Recent immigrants contributed about £6 billion to economic growth last year, earning more and paying more tax than native Britons, according to new Government figures published today.