Employment Minister Chris Grayling

Ministers have rejected orders from the European Union to hand over Pension Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and other means-tested benefits to migrants from other EU member nations. They fear the move could turn Britain into a magnet of so-called “welfare tourists” and cost British taxpayers around £2.5billion a year to pay for the handouts. But the European Commission, the EU’s ruling body, yesterday raised the prospect of the UK being dragged before European judges and hit with daily fines until the order is complied with. Laszlo Andor, the European Commissioner for Social Affairs, said: “We have asked the British Government why they insist on not implementing this measure, but so far we have not received an explanation.”

It should be up to the British Government to decide who can claim which benefits Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance

Last night, the threat of fines – potentially running into tens of millions of pounds – for failure to pay the benefits infuriated critics of the EU. Tory backbencher Peter Bone said: “It is absolutely absurd that the Government is being ordered to pay out benefits to anyone who comes into this country. Quite frankly, this is a matter that should be decided by this country’s Parliament and not some foreign court. Emma Boon, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “It should be up to the British Government to decide who can claim which benefits. We simply can’t afford a complete free-for-all, especially not with an ageing population. “It is time voters were given a choice about what our relationship with the EU should be.”

The EU directive applies to Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit, State Pension Credit, Income-based Allowance for Jobseekers and Income-based Employment and Support Allowance. EU chiefs claim that any EU citizens living in the UK should be entitled to the same social security benefits as Britons. And Mr Andor dismissed concerns about benefit tourism, saying: “The evidence might be very much inflated.” But Employment Minister Chris Grayling has warned the directive could encourage millions of migrants to head to Britain to cash in. In particular, he fears that foreign pensioners could move to the UK to “top up” their state pensions through the Pension Credit system.