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divdiv class=story-body readability=56 span class=story-date#13; span class=date27 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time04:25 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1A European commissioner has warned the UK risks being seen as a nasty country after Prime Minister David Cameron outlined plans to restrict access to benefits for EU immigrants./p#13; pMr Cameron is proposing powers to deport homeless migrants and cut rights to unemployment and housing benefits. /p#13; pBut Employment Commissioner Laszlo Andor urged the government not to encourage hysteria, telling the BBC that people in the UK were not being told the full truth about the benefits of immigration./p#13; pIn an article in a href=http://www.ft.com/home/ukthe Financial Times/a, the prime minister said the last Labour government had made a monumental mistake in not restricting access to the UK labour market when Poland and nine other countries joined the EU in 2004, resulting in much larger numbers coming than expected./p#13; pHe announced measures including:/p#13; ulli New migrants not getting out-of-work benefits for the first three months/li#13; li Payments being stopped after six months unless the claimant has a genuine chance of a job/li#13; li New migrants not being able to claim housing benefit immediately/li#13; li Deportation of those caught begging or sleeping rough, with no return within a year/li#13; li Quadrupling fines for employers not paying the minimum wage/li#13; /ulpMr Cameron also questioned the principle of free movement of people across the EU, saying this right could not be unqualified./p#13; pHe suggested a future Conservative government, as part of its pledge to renegotiate EU membership, could seek more discretion over migration policy./p#13; !-- Embedding the audio player --#13;!-- This is the embedded player component --#13;#13;#13; #13; #13;#13;#13;#13;!-- wwrights check --#13;!-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13;#13;#13;#13;div class=audioInStoryC#13; div id=emp-25117437-82388 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71370000/jpg/_71370332_71370331.jpg alt=The Flag of Europe/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; #13; #13; #13;#13;/div#13;!-- end of the embedded player component --#13;#13;!-- Player embedded -- pWorking with other like-minded EU governments he said they would look at allowing member states to halt arrivals if numbers moving exceeded a certain level./p#13; pHe also suggested that freedom of movement should only be fully allowed if the average income of a country's people was not too far below the EU average./p#13; span class=cross-head'New settlement'/span#13; pTransitional controls limiting Bulgarian and Romanian workers' access to the UK labour market - in place since the two countries joined the EU in 2007 - will expire at the end of the year./p#13; pThere have been warnings of an influx of low-skilled workers and calls from across the political spectrum to review migrants' access to the health service and welfare system./p#13; pWe are changing the rules so that no-one can come to this country and expect to get out-of-work benefits immediately, Mr Cameron wrote./p#13; pHe said it was time to recognise the principle of free movement, a fundamental tenet of the European Union, had become a trigger for vast population movements./p#13; pIt is time for a new settlement which recognises that free movement is a central principle of the EU, but it cannot be a completely unqualified one, he added./p#13; #13; pMr Cameron said the UK would work with other EU countries to return the concept of free movement to a more sensible basis./p#13; pHowever, Mr Andor described Mr Cameron's proposals as an unfortunate over-reaction, adding that EU rules applied equally to all 28 member states and had been agreed to by the UK./p#13; pHe told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that dismantling the rules could lead to a slippery slope./p#13; pMr Andor also said: The point is that the British public has not been told all the truth./p#13; pHe added that there were existing EU safeguards to prevent benefit tourism, saying: We would need a more accurate presentation of the reality, not under pressure, not under hysteria, as sometimes happens in the UK... I would insist on presenting the truth, not false assumptions./p#13; pImmigration from Poland and other countries had benefited the UK economy, he said, arguing that the prime minister's suggestions risked presenting the UK as a kind of nasty country in the European Union./p#13; pThe Lib Dems said the sensible changes would restore confidence in the immigration system and ensure that the right to work does not automatically mean the right to claim./p#13; span class=cross-head'Too generous'/span#13; pOther countries in the EU already have similar policies and are considering the case for going further, said deputy prime minister Nick Clegg. Unfettered access to benefits across the member states does not exist./p#13; pBut shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the prime minister was playing catch-up and copying a Labour idea./p#13; pAfter Labour proposed this change in March, the government said it was all fine and nothing needed to change. Yet now, rather than following a coherent plan, they are flailing around. /p#13; pUKIP leader Nigel Farage said the UK was still being far too generous, adding: Under his proposal, somebody can come here on 1 January from Romania and within 12 weeks be entitled to unemployment benefit./p#13; pHe added the plan would do nothing to stop an unrestricted flow of a very large number of unskilled people coming into Britain at a time when the country was struggling with youth unemployment./p#13; pThe UK has been involved in a long-running legal battle with the European Commission about EU nationals' eligibility for benefits and UKIP has said this cannot be stopped unless the UK leaves the EU./p#13; pMigrationWatch UK has said it expects 50,000 people to come from Bulgaria and Romania to the UK in each of the next five years but the Bulgarian ambassador has said he believes the figure will be much lower - predicting levels of about 8,000./p#13; div class=comment-introduction readability=-49#13; p class=introductionWhat do you think of these proposals? Did you come to the United Kingdom looking for work? Are you planning on migrating to the UK? You can send us your thoughts and experiences using the form below. /p#13; #13;/div#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center