Wednesday, August 9 2006 10:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Having learnt how to appreciate the skills of the proverbial Polish plumber and the quiet efficiency of the Czech taxi driver, Britain is now debating whether to put the brakes on record immigration triggered by European Union expansion.

"Polish plumbers, doctors and dentists have brought a lot of skills and benefits," Home Secretary John Reid said in a keynote speech on immigration this week.

But Reid, a tough-talking Scot with a straightforward manner, refused to commit himself to whether similar rights to settle and work in Britain would be granted to immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria when they join the EU next year.

The British government is debating whether it should follow the example of other major west European states, including Germany, and impose a seven-year transitional ban on working for new EU members.

Britain was one of only three countries in 2004 to give all new EU citizens automatic work rights. Ministers expected up to 13,000 a year to move to Britain but 600,000 have come so far.

Mass immigration was the 'greatest challenge' facing European governments at present, said Reid, who advocated a 'change in the culture' of the immigration debate.

The minister said he wanted to see an 'optimum level of immigration' to prevent migrant numbers from becoming a 'political football'.

"It was as important to reassure people that their schools and hospitals would not be overburdened and that the terms of their jobs would be preserved, while managed migration could bring essential, skilled workers to Britain," Reid said.

The new migration advisory committee, which will assess where in the economy migration should 'sensibly fill skill gaps', is to be up and running by next April, according to Reid.

The committee's work is to complement the Government's new managed migration 'points system', which favours those who bring skills needed by the economy, and which is to be implemented over the next 12 months.

While the issue of possible restrictions on the future influx from new EU members remains to be decided, experts have warned the Government that current levels of migration into Britain were "not sustainable".

"We foolishly went ahead and had an open-door policy in 2004. We've now got Bulgaria and Romania coming down the road at us. We need to impose barriers until there is a European-wide policy," warned Frank Field, a former Labour Government minister.