Wary welcome for latest incomers

Key quote

"It's not fair that some EU members won't let us come and work" - YORDANKA SOKOLOVA, 22

Story in full THE first Romanian and Bulgarian workers admitted to Britain since their countries joined the European Union started arriving at UK airports yesterday.

Even as the new workers touched down on UK soil, the political row about their presence boiled on, with starkly contrasting estimates about how many would eventually arrive.

Romania and Bulgaria formally joined the EU yesterday, taking its membership to 27 and its population to 490 million.

Unlike the citizens of previous "accession" countries like Poland, yesterday's new entrants do not have the unrestricted right to work in the UK.

Instead, the government says it will grant around 22,000 work permits to those qualified to fill vacancies in designated industries that are short of labour.

Yordanka Sokolova, a 22-year-old Bulgarian, was one of the first to arrive in London yesterday, flying from Sofia to take up work in the UK as an au pair. She complained that the UK system meant she must work only in the job she is permitted to do, "and I can't look for another job".

But she said Britain was still more generous than many other EU countries. "It's not fair that some EU members won't let us come and work," she said.

Four flights from Sofia landed at London airports yesterday, and the same number came from Bucharest, the Romanian capital. Later this month, a budget airline will begin a service from Bucharest to Luton, with its cheapest tickets costing £35.

Travelling by coach can be even cheaper, and some people began arriving at London's Victoria bus station last night after two-day journeys. In addition to those granted work permits, some self-employed Bulgarians and Romanians will also be admitted to Britain. All citizens of the two countries will be allowed to remain in Britain for up to three months without paperwork. That has led some to predict a wave of illegal working.

Migrationwatch, which campaigns against mass immigration, has predicted there could be 180,000 arrivals this year. By comparison, the Institute for Public Policy Research expects 56,000. The Home Office is running advertising campaigns in Romania and Bulgaria trying to deter unregistered workers.

But in contrast, the Treasury is banking on the newcomers to sustain Britain's economy.

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, last month raised his estimate of the "trend rate" of economic growth - the economy's long-term "speed limit" - based partly on the supply of immigrant labour.

Arrivals fail to halt population decline

SCOTLAND is a "net importer" of people from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, with new arrivals more than offsetting the number of Scots who leave for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Yet the flow of UK migrants into Scotland is still not enough to reverse the declining population, a new study has found.

Research from Halifax Bank of Scotland today suggests that over the past decade, 53,000 more people have moved to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK than have left the country.

Nonetheless, Scotland's population fell by a total of 9,000 over the same period.

The net fall is explained largely by the number of deaths exceeding the number of births in Scotland.

The suggestion that Scotland is relatively successful at luring people from other parts of the UK will be good news for the Scottish Executive, which has promised to address the country's falling population.

The Scottish National Party says the Executive should encourage young Scots to stay in the country by offering financial aid to first-time house-buyers.