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Reid to set new EU migrant rules Reid to set new EU migrant rules
(about 15 hours later)
Home Secretary John Reid is to outline plans to restrict Bulgarian and Romanian people's right to work in the UK when they join the EU next year.Home Secretary John Reid is to outline plans to restrict Bulgarian and Romanian people's right to work in the UK when they join the EU next year.
A Cabinet committee will consider on Tuesday his plan to place quotas on work permits, or controls on the types of employment people take up. A Cabinet committee will decide whether to sign off plans which could include limits on work permit numbers or quotas for specific economic areas.
The Home Office said it had always had a policy of "managed immigration". The UK had no restrictions when eight eastern European states joined in 2004.
Up to 600,000 people have come to the UK from countries which joined the EU in 2004, far more than expected. Bulgaria's minister for EU integration, Meglena Kuneva, said she was disappointed by the change of policy.
'Managed migration' 'Workable'
While the UK will take a limited number of unskilled Bulgarian and Romanian workers to carry out jobs like fruit-picking, Mr Reid is expected to say that it will not continue to operate an "open-door" policy. Up to 600,000 people came to the UK from the eight countries which joined the EU in 2004, far more than expected.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We have always supported the principle of managed migration." When Bulgaria and Romania join the EU in January, their citizens will be free to travel to the UK.
She added that, over the summer, the immigration service had seen its "biggest overhaul", which had increased the need for a "gradual access" for new EU residents. But Mr Reid is expected to say that while a limited number of unskilled workers will be taken on to carry out jobs like fruit-picking, the UK will not continue to operate an "open-door" policy regarding work.
Mr Reid is expected to make his announcement following the Cabinet committee meeting on Tuesday. He is expected to make his announcement following the Cabinet committee meeting on Tuesday.
Bulgaria and Romania learned last month that they would become EU members in January 2007. Any restrictions could last for only up to seven years under EU rules.
Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said any proposal needed to be "workable and effective".
"There's a great deal of discussion but we have actually not made any decisions yet," she told reporters after talks in London with European Union enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.
"What we should be wanting to do is to look very carefully at what is being considered.
"We all understand that there are issues and there are concerns about our labour market.
"We all want to be clear that anything that is proposed is workable and effective."
BBC political correspondent Gary O'Donoghue said the danger for the government was that "if it makes the restrictions too tough, it could risk driving Romanian and Bulgarian migrants straight into the arms of the black economy".
'Be brave'
Bulgaria's Ms Kuneva said on BBC News 24 about 36,000 people would want to move to Britain from Bulgaria.
She hoped they would have the same freedom as Polish workers who came to the UK when Poland joined in 2004.
Mrs Kuneva described the UK's policy in 2004 as "very brave and very right", especially as the UK was one of only four who opened their borders.
"It's a little a bit strange why this policy isn't kept [for Bulgaria]", she said.
Baroness Scotland told the House of Lords on Monday the government's scheme would be "welcoming" while "safeguarding the best interests of the people of this country".Baroness Scotland told the House of Lords on Monday the government's scheme would be "welcoming" while "safeguarding the best interests of the people of this country".
The government had also "learnt a great deal" from Polish workers, whose arrival had benefited the country, she added.The government had also "learnt a great deal" from Polish workers, whose arrival had benefited the country, she added.