Article: Open doors for new migrants, say bosses

A SCORE of Britain's top business leaders are backing a campaign to allow unlimited immigration from Romania and Bulgaria when the two nations join the European Union.
They have put their names to a campaign headed by pressure group Business for New Europe (BNE), which argues that hundreds of thousands of migrants from Poland and other 2004 accession states in eastern Europe have boosted UK productivity, plugged gaps in the labour market and grown the economy.

The expected influx of Bulgarian and Romanian migrants would do the same if Britain opens its borders when the two countries join the EU, probably next year, it says.

Among those backing the BNE are the heads of some of the largest and most influential businesses in Britain including Peter Sutherland, chairman of oil giant BP, advertising magnate Sir Martin Sorrell of WPP, Sainsbury's chairman Philip Hampton, and Merrill Lynch's Bob Wigley.
Their call for Britain to welcome potentially hundreds of thousands of new workers is likely to be particularly-controversial as the Governmentis considering restrictions on free movement of labour from the two countries.

It admitted this month that it had woefully underestimated the number of workers who would migrate to Britain in 2004 when 10 new nations, including Poland, Hungary and Lithuania, joined the EU. The Government had expected only a few tens of thousands would migrate, but about 600,000 eastern Europeans subsequently moved to the UK to work. That has sparked a heated debate about the economic and social benefits of large-scale migration into Britain.

The BNE campaign also throws business leaders into an unlikely alliance with their traditional sparring partners in the trade union movement. Immediate access to Britain for Romanian and Bulgarian workers is being backed by the Trades Union Congress.

Other supporters include groups representing employers of largely unskilled labour in agriculture such as the National Farmers' Union and the Fresh Produce Consortium.

Among evidence put forward by the BNE for the benefits of opendoor migration is research from the Ernst Young Item Club which reckons interest rates would be half a percentage point higher were it not for the new low-cost workforce.

It also argues that fears migration is fuelling UK unemployment are unfounded. Although the number out of work is at a six-year high, the BNE claims there is no clear correlation. A TUC spokesman pointed out that wage inflation is rising - which suggests demand for labour has not been satisfied.