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Cameron’s case for EU reform should be built on truth, not confusion

Anna Sonny, 12 June 2015

David Cameron met with opposition this week from EU leaders over his plans to restrict welfare benefits for EU immigrants in the UK. The prime minister had talks with Spanish, Finnish, Belgian, and Romanian leaders, who were unimpressed with his plans to cut benefits for their citizens in the UK.

Figures consistently show that the majority of EU immigrants come to the UK to work, in stark contrast with the workshy, benefit-tourist stereotype we see splashed across the tabloids. According to data from the Department for Work and Pensions, the proportion of EU immigrants claiming benefits is smaller in comparison to the number of British and non-EU immigrants. In 2014, 4.9 million (92.6 per cent) working age benefit claimants were British while only 131,000 (2.5 per cent) were EU nationals. Recipients from non-EU countries make up 5 per cent.

The data does show that in the bracket of single families receiving working family tax credit or child tax credit, the number of EU nationals claiming is higher than non-EU immigrants – this is mainly due to being in low-paid work. Tough measures to crack down on those who don’t contribute to the system are not difficult to justify, but making immigrants wait four years before they can claim in-work benefits will be harder to negotiate. While Cameron is trying to weaken what he believes is a strong pull factor in attracting EU immigrants to the UK, some argue that low UK wages, even with in-work benefits, are still lower than wages in other wealthy EU member states; it is therefore not clear that immigrants come here on the basis of a complicated benefits system. Lumping in-work benefits in with the reform package fails to achieve the prime minister’s  aim, and is less likely to be accepted by other EU leaders.

Another thing to bear in mind is that freedom of movement works both ways; there are 30,000 Britons claiming benefits in other EU member states. Cameron should be aware that his proposals may have repercussions for them.

There also seems to be confusion amongst the British public about how freedom of movement actually works. A ComRes poll for the Independent on Sunday found that 52% of British people like being able to live and work anywhere in the EU but 46% don’t feel people in the EU should be allowed to live and work here. This failure to acknowledge that being able to move freely around the EU and having EU nationals come to the UK are two sides of the same coin strengthens the UK’s reputation for being the recalcitrant EU member.

It is important for Cameron to acknowledge both sides of this in order to argue the case for reform better. Under pressure from Ukip and hardened eurosceptics in his own party, the prime minister is understandably desperate to quell anti-EU sentiment amongst the British public; but the case for reform needs to be built on what the figures show, not on sentiment shaped by confusion and misinformation.

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