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Britain must limit European immigration during the recession, says ex-Labour minister Frank Field
Britain must stop letting in so many immigrants from Europe during the recession because the job market is "flooded", Downing Street's poverty adviser has warned.
European workers are allowed to pass freely across borders to find jobs
Frank Field, a former Labour minister and MP for Birkenhead, said immigration from Europe was a major reason that millions of people are struggling to find jobs in the recession.
He said it would be increasingly difficult for unemployed British people to find work while the "market is flooded with over-qualified applicants from Europe".
He said temporary restrictions would help give the Government's welfare reforms a "fair wind", as ministers try to encourage the long-term workless back into jobs.
"During the recession, the Government just needs to tell Brussels that we just can't have free movement of labour," he told The Daily Telegraph.
"How is Iain Duncan-Smith [the Work and Pensions Secretary] going to get people off benefits into work if the market is flood with over-qualified people from Europe?
"There's a huge haemorrhaging of Tory support to UKIP. I would have thought the leadership should look at an idea that would appeal to Tory and indeed many Labour voters."
Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Eastern Europe have settled in Britain since countries such as Poland joined the European Union.
However, the Government quickly dismissed Mr Field's suggestions as it could make it difficult for British people to get jobs abroad.
Damian Green, the immigration minister, said "closing off" the European market would "badly impact" workers.
It is not unprecedented for countries imposed temporary measures to stop an influx of workers from eastern Europe.
Earlier this month, Switzerland said workers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia would have to seek authorisation before arriving for work.
The country is not in the European Union (EU), but it said immigration from the economic bloc would now be subject to quotas.
At the time, the EU warned Switzerland it was in breach of a free movement treaty and hinted it could face legal action.
Britain has already limited the arrival of unskilled workers from outside the European Union.
However, free travel within the EU is a key principle of the union.
Earlier this year, David Cameron led a coalition of countries claiming that workers should be able to get jobs abroad within Europe even more easily as migration will help the economy.
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