UK's strict mode

Prime Minister David Cameron urges Tory MPs and European leaders to back his campaign to tackle a wave of Romanian and Bulgarian immigration. 

The PM has announced his intention to limit migrants’ rights to benefits, as he struggles to meet overwhelming demand for action on immigration from the European Union.

The moves come amid concerns raised by an expected influx of Bulgarians and Romanians, who will gain the right to live and work in the UK once restrictions on their movements in the EU are lifted on January 1.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics have recently revealed that the number of immigrants from poorer EU states to the UK rose to nearly 60,000 in the first-half of 2013, compared to around 41,000 a year earlier.

Government cannot guarantee everyone a job.

Mr Cameron’s new welfare rules include barring newcomers from claiming benefits for three months and stopping payments if they do not get a job within six months.

Also, people found begging or sleeping rough could be deported of barred from re-entry for 12 months.

European employment commissioner Laszlo Andor warned that Mr Cameron’s measures risk presenting the UK as the nasty country in the European Union, and should therefore be revised. He defined the Prime Minister's proposal "an unfortunate over-reaction”.

Conservative MP John Baron said:” The problem with tinkering with benefits is that it will get bogged down in the EU bureaucracy and will require lots of implementation”.

David Cameron also faces a coalition split after Liberal Democrats said blocking benefits could put the UK on the wrong side of the EU.