Press Story

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk said Cameron’s calls for curbs on migrants’ access to tax credits would require “compromise” as there is “no consensus” and “substantial political differences” on the plans amongst European leaders.

The new IPPR briefing - Unlocking the EU free movement debate - explains how freedom of movement can be restricted while avoiding punitive or discriminatory benefit restrictions, and without fundamentally changing the founding principles of the EU. It would also assuage public concerns and be more palatable to EU partners.

It is clear that the British government are finding it hard to make progress in their bid to win reforms necessary to sway the forthcoming EU referendum. The PM has staked his negotiations on a four-year ban on in-work benefits, which is beset by serious concerns from other EU countries.

However, IPPR believes there are ways forward that will find support among other EU countries, as well as satisfying the concerns of the British public. These include:

• Welfare: Restricting the availability of Income-based Jobseekers Allowance to people who are first-time jobseekers from the EU and limiting full access to non-contributory benefits for unemployed EU migrants until they have worked in the UK for three years.

• Public Services: Creating an EU-level fund to assist local councils with alleviating pressures on schools, hospitals and housing created by sudden rises in immigration, similar to the Migration Impacts Fund which operated from 2009 to 2010. Britain would be net recipients of such a fund.

• Crime: Strengthening the rules in the citizens’ directive on restricting the movement of serious criminals on public security grounds, in order to make it easier to expel criminals and prevent them from applying for re-entry for longer, from a maximum of three to five years.

• Integration: Changing EU law to allow the UK to require EU migrants to have an English language qualification and pass the ‘Life in the UK’ citizenship test in order to get permanent residence.

• Labour markets: Ensuring greater cooperation between EU member states in order to tackle cross-border exploitation of free movement by unscrupulous employers.

Marley Morris, research fellow on migration, integration and communities, said:

“The Prime Minister seems to be pinning his hopes for the renegotiation on a four year ban on in-work benefits for EU migrants, in the face of considerable opposition from other EU leaders. But there are ways he can reform free movement that could find support across the EU.

“Our proposals show that there are changes on welfare, public services, integration and crime that could satisfy the British public’s appetite for change in the EU, as well as being more acceptable to our EU partners. By changing direction on his asks, Cameron stands more of a chance of getting the kinds of reforms that both the British public and other EU countries will accept.”

Contact

Danny Wright – d.wright@ippr.org 07887 422 789
Sofie Jenkinson – s.jenkinson@ippr.org 07981 023 031
Lester Holloway – l.holloway@ippr.org 07585 772 633

Notes to Editors

IPPR’s Unlocking the EU free movement debate is available here.

IPPR’s report last month ‘Freedom of movement and welfare: A way out for the prime minister?’ sets out in even more detail the benefit changes that Cameron could make in order to win support from Europe and satisfy the British public. See: http://www.ippr.org/publications/freedom-of-movement-and-welfare-a-way-out-for-the-prime-minister

IPPR’s 2014 report ‘Europe, free movement and the UK: Charting a new course’ stated that withdrawal from the EU would be a hugely retrograde step for the UK but that Britain needed to:

Address the problem of vulnerable low-skilled employment in the UK
Increase conditions on access to social security assistance for mobile EU citizens
Reform of the rules around transitional controls for future accession states

See: http://www.ippr.org/publications/europe-free-movement-and-the-uk-charting-a-new-course