Cameron: benefits must be cut for new EU workers

Migrants from the European Union will have to work in Britain for a minimum of four years before they can claim in-work benefits, David Cameron has said today.

In a major speech in the West Midlands , the Prime Minister will outline the changes he wants to make to migration rules and say that he is willing to leave the EU if he does not get his way.

There are believed to be more than 300,000 EU migrants in Britain who claim working tax credits, given to low-paid workers to top up their pay.

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Withdrawal of the payments would therefore cut the amount of income low-skilled EU migrants receive, leaving them closer to the salary they would be paid in their native country and reducing the incentive to come to the UK, says The Guardian.

The newspaper says the proposal is an implicit acknowledgement that cutting back on out-of-work benefits for EU workers is ineffective as migrants come to work rather than as "benefit tourists".

"People want grip. I get that," Cameron said. "They don't want limitless immigration and they don't want no immigration. They want controlled immigration. And they are right."

The speech came the day after it was announced that net migration rose to 260,000 in the year to June – an increase of 78,000 on the previous year. Labour says Cameron's pledge to bring net migration down below 100,000 before the 2015 election is in "tatters".

The Prime Minister also spoke of the positive contribution made by migrants and laid down his support for the free movement of workers within the EU, but he warned that it needs to operate on a "more sustainable basis".

He called for his proposals to apply to the whole of the EU, but said he will negotiate them as a UK-only settlement if that is not possible.

EU workers will also have to wait four years for housing benefits or social housing and will not receive child benefits and tax credits for children living elsewhere in Europe no matter how long they have paid taxes in the UK.