Immigrants banned from housing waiting lists for up to five years

March 24, 2013

By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor
Daily Mail UK

David Cameron is to unveil a new immigration crackdown with migrant families kept off council house waiting lists until they have lived in Britain for up to five years.

There cannot be a 'culture of something for nothing,' Mr Cameron is expected to declare Photo: PA

The Prime Minister will use a speech on Monday to make it clear that he believes tough new moves on housing are needed because Britain became a “soft touch” for immigrants during the years Labour were in power.

In what is being billed as a landmark address on the subject, he will vow to bring to an end a situation where people can come to Britain and get benefits and public services without putting anything in, according to aides.

There cannot be a “culture of something for nothing,” Mr Cameron is expected to declare.

Councils, which at the moment can avoid imposing local residency tests for social housing, will be forced by law to do so in the future.

The new “get-tough” approach, which will appeal to his party’s right wing, follows the Eastleigh by-election where the Conservatives were beaten into third place behind the Liberal Democrats and the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) and immigration emerged as high on the list of voters’ concerns.


Last week Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, performed a U-turn by abandoning the Liberal Democrats’ controversial policy of “earned citizenship”, which would allow illegal immigrants to stay once they have been in the country for more than 10 years. He said such a move now risked “undermining public confidence”.

Ministers and MPs are concerned ahead of the end of restrictions on people from Bulgaria and Romania coming to Britain to work.

The rules are loosened at the end of this year. Figures on the website of the Department for Communities and Local Government suggest around 13,000 will arrive from the two countries but Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, said last week he had “no confidence” in his own department’s figures.

Migration Watch UK, which wants tougher controls on immigration, estimates 250,000 Romanians and Bulgarians will move to the UK in the first five years after restrictions are lifted.

Mr Cameron’s housing crackdown is seen by Tory MPs as bearing all the hallmarks of Lynton Crosby, the Conservatives’ election strategist known for his approval of “dog-whistle” policies which appeal to the party’s core vote.

The Prime Minister is likely to cite figures in his speech showing that nearly one in 10 new social lettings go to foreign nationals. The proportion has risen from 6.5 per cent in 2007-08 to nine per cent in 2011-12.

“We want to ensure we remove any expectation that new migrants can expect the British taxpayer to give them a home on arrival,” a source close to Mr Cameron said.

Councils will get “statutory guidance” to introduce a local residency test to determine who should qualify - with the result that someone would have to live in an area between two and five years before they could get on a waiting list.

Sources said the move was aimed at “stopping someone from turning up and immediately gaining access to social housing”.

Ministers will also take steps to ensure British nationals are protected when they move for “genuine reasons” - such as work or family breakdown - by ensuring local authorities retain the ability to set exceptions. Such protection is already legally in force for members of the Armed Forces.

Currently councils are able to get their own local residency tests, but many do not. Government sources made it clear ministers were preparing to introduce legislation soon to force the issue.

Mr Cameron is expected to use his speech to reassert his commitment to reduce net migration - the difference between people coming to Britain and those leaving it - to below 100,000. Latest annual figures put it at 163,000, down almost a third since the coalition came to power in 2010.

The Prime Minister will accuse Labour governments of being “too soft” on immigration.

Conservative MPs urged Mr Cameron to use tomorrow’s speech to be bold. Stewart Jackson said: “He needs to make the point that people will only be welcome if they make a positive financial contribution and, if they’re welfare tourists, they won’t be.”

Another Tory backbencher, Priti Patel, said tough rhetoric on immigration was necessary to “win back public confidence”.

Ministers are also studying plans to take fingerprints and other biometric details from Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants who come here from next year after the restrictions on workers are eased.

They may be forced to have “biometric residence permits” which would make it clear they are allowed to use public services. The permits would be in the form of cards, with a photograph and an electronic version of a signature, on which biometric date would be stored. Ministers have already promised to look at restricting access for new arrivals to the NHS.

Earlier this month Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, also stung by the emergence of immigration as a key issue in the Eastleigh by-election, used a party political broadcast to admit once again that his party had “got it wrong” on the issue when in power.

He said Labour ministers should have imposed transitional controls on migration from eastern Europe, adding that they were wrong to dismiss voters’ concerns on the subject.

He argued that “low-skill migration is too high and we need to bring it down”, attracting some criticism from the left. However, he has shied away from following the Tories in proposing to crack down on the ready availability of benefits to migrants, preferring to concentrate on moves against rogue employers using migrant labour to undercut British workers.