UK Plans to Cut In-Work Benefits for EU Migrants ‘Discriminatory’: Warsaw

MOSCOW, November 24 (Sputnik) – Plans by the British government to cut "in-work benefits", money paid to low wage workers to top up their salaries, for European migrants are discriminatory and will not curb the migration of Poles to the United Kingdom, Polish Ambassador to London Witold Sobkow said on Monday.

"These measures [cutting in-work benefits] would be discriminatory, because we pay the same taxes which are paid for tax credits doing the same job. Imagine you have three people working for the BBC: one from Spain, one from Poland, one from the UK. They live and they pay taxes here. Why should you discriminate against the Spanish and the Polish worker?" Sobkow said on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.

The envoy referred to a survey by Open Europe think tank, showing that out of more than 3 million families working in the United Kingdom and receiving social benefits, just 252,000 came from EU countries.

"People do not come here for benefits. They come here to work. The vast majority of migrants come to the UK to work. This is what the report says. They have no idea about benefits," the ambassador stressed.

The Polish Ambassador also emphasized that the United Kingdom should remain in the European Union and that a consensus over migration should be reached.

A significant increase of the amount of long-term migrants to the United Kingdom has been observed over the last year, growing from 175,000 to 243,000 people. The United Kingdom provides EU migrants with tax credits, social housing and access to the National Health System (NHS) that is highly opposed by the UK Independence Party and Prime Minister David Cameron.