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UK slams Commission report on ‘benefits tourism’

European Commission says the UK authorities have failed to prove there is systemic and widespread abuse of its welfare system.

The UK government has attacked the European Commission over a report that says migration to the UK from other European Union member states has been good for the British economy.

A spokesman for David Cameron, the UK prime minister, said: “We don’t think the current system is working, that is why we are looking at changes across the board.”

The spokesman said that the presence in the UK of more than 600,000 EU citizens classified in the report as “non-active” underscored the pull factor of Britain’s welfare system.

A spokesman for László Andor (pictured), the European commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, slammed claims that all 600,000 were unemployed, saying these claims were “grossly inaccurate and irresponsible”.

He also said that the Commission had been seeking figures from the UK authorities on the alleged benefits tourism for three years, without success. He said that EU migrants were net contributors to Britain’s welfare system.

According to the Commission’s report, published yesterday (14 October), the share of jobless EU migrants of those claiming benefits is below 5% in most member states. It said that the impact on national budgets of EU nationals receiving social benefits in another member state was very low.

The report does, however, note an increase in the number of EU citizens coming to the UK without a job. 

Cameron’s spokesman said there was “widespread and understandable concern” about benefits tourism. He also said that the government was currently reviewing the cost of health tourism for the National Health Service.