There has been a surge in the number of eastern Europeans working in Britain since the EU referendum but numbers from France, Germany and other western European countries have dipped, according to official figures.

The Office for National Statistics said the number of eastern Europeans working in Britain rose by 46,000 between June and September, to 1,053,000.

It is the first official indication that the vote has triggered an increase in labour from eastern Europe amid fears that Britain will close its doors, particularly to unskilled labour from the EU.

At the same time the numbers in work from western European countries fell by 7,000 to 937,000, suggesting that uncertainty about their status in a post-Brexit Britain is already beginning to put off some French and German people from remaining or coming to work in the UK.

The Brexit vote also seems to have led to a drop in the number of people coming to Britain from Romania and Bulgaria, the latest countries to join the EU.

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The quarterly ONS labour market figures show that the number of non-UK nationals working in Britain rose by 241,000 in the 12 months to this September, to 3.49 million, or just under 11% of the UK workforce. Over the same period the number of Britons working in the UK rose by 213,000 to 28.39 million.

The figures for employment levels in the three months since the Brexit vote in June show there was a 219,000 rise in the numbers in work in Britain. This was made up of an increase of 175,000 in UK employment and a net increase of 43,000 in non-UK employment in Britain.

Along with the 46,000 increase from the A8 eastern European countries, which include Poland, and the drop of 7,000 from western Europe, there was also a fall of 8,000 in work from Romania and Bulgaria.

Estimates based on the country of birth, rather than the nationality, of those working in Britain show an even starker picture. Between July and September 2016 there were 5.55 million people born abroad working in Britain, compared with 3.49 million foreign nationals working in Britain. The ONS said the numbers differed because the estimates of those born abroad included many UK nationals born outside Britain.

The detailed estimates of those born abroad working in Britain also show a 48,000 rise in people born in eastern Europe working in Britain and a 30,000 fall in the numbers from western European countries working in Britain in the third quarter between July and September this year.