The number of European Union workers in Britain has reached a record high of more than 2.2 million, official figures have revealed.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed a massive surge in the number of people coming to work here from the rest of the EU in the last year - including a record number from Romania and Bulgaria.

It means eight out of 10 of the 413,000 extra workers in Britain compared with a year earlier were from outside this country.

Measured by country of birth an extra 252,000 EU workers came here in the last year bringing the total to 2,210,000.

When measured by nationality, taking into account migrants who have gone on to become naturalised British citizens, the numbers was up 224,000 to 2,146,000.