People are more likely to be concerned about immigration if they have little contact with migrants, according to a new poll to be released on Monday.

The Survation poll for Sky News found that 71% of those who did not know any immigrants supported strong action to crackdown on immigration, compared with 58% of those who say they know immigrants well.

The poll found that 67% of those questioned do not believe that coalition plans to reduce net migration from non-EU countries goes far enough. The poll of 1,508 adults also found that 74% are concerned about the prospect of Romanians and Bulgarians being given complete EU rights to work in Britain when transitional controls are lifted in January.

The poll, which is being published as Sky News devotes a week of coverage to immigration, came as the European Commission dismissed a report in the Sunday Telegraph that it had concluded that more than 600,000 unemployed EU migrants are living in the UK. The Sunday Telegraph said that a 291-page report, to be published this week by the employment and social inclusion commissioner Laszlo Andor, found that there are 611,779 "non-active" EU non-British nationals in the UK last year. This is an increase on 431,687 six years ago.

Commission sources said that less than a third (28%) of "non-active" EU nationals in Britain are jobseekers. The others are retired people (30%), disabled (3%) and 25% for whom there is no category, usually indicating the spouse of someone working.