Theresa May plans crackdown on EU benefit claims to cut migration
GETTY Theresa May has asked officials to look again at curbs to prevent new arrivals from EU nations
The Prime Minister has asked officials to look again at curbs to prevent new arrivals from EU nations receiving tax credits and other job-related state support. Her move would revive a proposal put forward by David Cameron in his botched effort to negotiate a new EU membership deal for Britain. But Downing Street aides insist benefit curbs are likely to be just one element of a wide-ranging package of measures to drastically tighten border controls after the UK leaves the bloc.
A Government spokesman said: "We have been clear that the UK should make its own decisions about migration once it leaves the EU. "The Government is considering a range of options and it is wrong to suggest it has determined on any particular system at this stage. "We are focused on getting the right deal for Britain as we prepare to begin negotiations with the EU. "It's not the UK's interests to provide a running commentary ahead of those negotiations." The new curbs would mean that migrants from the EU would face the same restrictions on benefit claims as newcomers from any where else in the world.
GETTY Mrs May is understood to be looking at limits on the number of EU migrants that firms could hire
GETTY Theresa May's move would revive a proposal put forward by David Cameron
At present, Brussels officials argue that free movement rules mean that all EU citizens must have equal access to in-work benefits in any member state. Mr Cameron only managed to negotiate a temporary compromise on migrant benefits in his failed deal, with a reduction the amount new arrivals could claim to be in force for a seven-year "emergency brake" period. The new proposals are understood to go much further and would be permanently in place. Officials hope the benefits curb would ease pressure on the Treasury by cutting the tax credit bill and reducing some of the financial incentive for migrant workers to come to the UK. Downing Street sources say no formal proposals have been drawn up yet, but the measure has been discussed in the context of a sweeping overhaul of the Government.
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Mrs May is considering whether EU migrants should continue to be allowed preferential treatment in the UK after the country's expected departure from the bloc in 2019. She is also understood to be looking at limits on the number of EU migrants that firms could hire and whether to allow some continuing low-skilled EU migration to help the agricultural sector. Signalling her determination to tackle the issue of migration in her speech to the Tory conference last October, the Prime Minister said: "If you're one of those people who lost their job, who stayed in work but on reduced hours, took a pay cut as household bills rocketed or - and I know a lot of people don't like to admit this - someone who finds themselves out of work or on lower wages because of low-skilled immigration, life simply doesn't seem fair.