'We're importing a crime wave from Romania and Bulgaria': Tory MPs round on ministers as immigration curbs are lifted

Government planning criticised by MPs during Debate in Parliament

Tory Philip Hollobone warns crime statistics are 'really quite startling'

Labour's Keith Vaz says ministers should have forecast expected numbers



Britain risks ‘importing a wave of crime’ from Bulgaria and Romania when work immigration curbs are lifted on January 1, the government was warned today.

Tory MPs said crime rates linked to eastern Europeans were ‘really quite startling’ and will only get worse in the New Year.

Ministers also came under pressure for failing to draw up any estimates on how many more people might move to the UK to help schools, hospitals and the police to plan ahead.

From January 1 restrictions on Romanians and Bulgarians working in the UK will be lifted

Britain is required to lift temporary restrictions on the free movement of people from Romania and Bulgaria at the start of 2014.

The government is rushing through new laws to stop migrants claiming benefits in the UK for the first three months.

But in a debate in Parliament today, Tory and Labour MPs lined up to criticise the government’s approach and for not knowing what the impact will be when the borders are opened.

Conservative MP Philip Hollobone: ‘We are importing a wave of crime from Romania and Bulgaria.’

He warned that crime among Romanians in England was ‘really quite startling’, adding: ‘Romanians are seven times more likely to be arrested in London than a British national.

‘Romanians account for more than 11 per cent of all foreign offenders, despite making up, at the moment, just a tiny proportion of residents.

Labour MP Keith Vaz criticised the government for failing to produce an estimate of how many more people would move to Britain

‘Last year, Romanians accounted for almost half of all arrests for begging, and one third of all arrests for pickpocketing in the capital.’

Mr Hollobone said that as a special constable with the British Transport Police on the London Underground he has first-hand experience of the problem of Romania criminals

‘And I must tell you, that eight out of 10 pickpockets are from Romania.

‘So the whole thing is completely out of control and the Romanian authorities need to provide the British police with information about the criminals which they know are in this country, far more quickly than they are currently providing.’

He added that voters would find it ‘disgusting’ the Government had failed to fulfil its ‘basic duty’ to find out how many Bulgarians and Romanians planned to come to the UK on January 1.

Labour MP Keith Vaz - the Labour chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee - said ministers did not know the number because they never asked their experts and advisers to find out.

Mr Vaz added: ‘I think that is a big mistake because now we have estimates that vary from 10,000 from the Bulgarian ambassador, to 20,000 from the Romanian ambassador, to 50,000 from Migration Watch.’

It comes after Sir David Metcalf, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee, told MPs last week that he had never been asked by ministers to estimate the number of Bulgarians and Romanians expected to come to the UK when labour market restrictions are lifted.

Many Tory MPs are worried that lifting EU restrictions will see tens of thousands of workers from both countries coming to work in the UK.