With the exception of agriculture the arguments of employers are laughable. Bus driving for instance is a low paid job which requires workers to work ever changing shifts, do split shifts requiring 3 or 4 hours off between working and to contend with violence and anti social behaviour on a daily basis in major cities. Instead of these highly profitable companies paying better wages to compensate for these conditions they have instead held down wages by importing drivers. They then wonder why indigenous workers and indeed even immigrants don't want the jobs. British management at its most idiotic and myopic.

Paul Owen, Birmingham, UK

The Bulgarian or Romanian immigrants' pitiful thousands in quantity comprise a negligible portion of Britain's net immigration. Whether one belives immigration to be a problem or otherwise, the two newest EU members shall change nothing in terms of our domestic labour market and social sphere with their marginal numbers.
The number of Eastern European immigrants claiming benefits in the UK today is also insignificant. Far below the percentage of British nationals' use of the scheme. It is true that such welfare policies were inaugurated for the benefit of the native population, but if we are to blame Bulgarians or Romanians for putative fraudulation or any recourse to public money, we might as well label Britain's "White British" benefit claims as monstrous. Equally preposterous.
Britain's welfare problems arises not out of Eastern European, but of an unregulated domestic preference.

L Georgiev, London,

"Asked why it was difficult to recruit Britons to be bus drivers, Mr Begg should have said: "
The reality is..
Most Britions don't apply for it because they recognise the reality of trying to live after tax on a wage of less than a grand a month yet alone after stealth must pay taxes that have increased disportionally in comparison to real living costs of paying rents buying food and suporting a family whilst paying for a retirement security. Not to mention paying the mortgage and the cost of traveling to work in the morning at that time since they are the public transport.

Ah.. the reasons I left the uk.. you can almost rech out and touch them now and thats in the space of three years.

Robert Hexter, ex Notts, Vancouver BC

So we have to ruin our country just because greedy employers want cheap labour. Give it 2 or 3 years and these same migrant workers will catch on and demand more wages or do employers want a situation to develop where 1 minimum wage job is being fought for by a hundred applicants a time.

Tony, Dudley , England

The first Moldo-Romania blog
http://www.constantincodreanu.blogspot.com/

Blog MD-RO, Bucharest,

I'm Romanian and recently applied to join the Police Force and was rejected because of these restrictionwas not given the chance for a work permit. I know I would be a valuable asset to them and going through the recruitment process I discovered that no immigrant has ever gone through. This is because of these stupid rules.
I am glad that British Government spend millions in translators and interpreters. Everything is upside down in this country and nobody seems to care.

Florin, Sussex,

What about a 1 in 1 out deal whereby for every economically active immigrant we allow into the UK, their country of origin has to take a benefit dependent layabout from the UK? This might stop this grossly overcrowded country sinking under sheer weight of numbers.

Angus Moat, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

This is discrimination!!!! It s not fair!!!

Kathy Batt, London,

It is not immediately obvious why the UK's immigration policy should be decided by the NFU and FirstGroup. But then again, it wasn't obvious why immigration policy in the 1950s and 1960s should have been determined by a UK construction firm that wanted to win a contract to build a dam in rural Pakistan.

AA, New York,

I come from Bulgaria . I am very well educated , excellent English,perfect Fench, communication skills. However nobody would employ me, just ,because of the restrictions. I am a student un the Fench institut inLondon and member of the French Cultural club,experienced in translations. Sometimes it is very sad . However I do not blame British government, the restrictions were included in the conditions Bulgaria to enroll the EU, approved from Bulgarian government. Neither in our country,nor abroad my people is not protected by its own poiticians.That is the tragedy!

Anna, Laleham, Middlesex

Good news but why the concern from big employers about lost labour? I wonder if the following sentence has anything to do with it?........

“Many employers also consider that young people from the UK are often not adequately equipped or experienced to do even relatively low skill level work and may have an ‘attitude problem’.”

Kim, london,

Perhaps that extended Roma family in Slough who made the headlines some time ago could be persuaded to do some work if there are job vacancies. They did not seem to be among the migrants from Eastern Europe "noted for their willingness to work hard for relatively little reward". This government knows perfectly well that its policy is full of loopholes that allow anyone into Britain.

Sheona Hutcheson, Chesham,

You wanted a common market - well you got it! What about the 2 million Brits in France and Spain eh? What about the Brits living and working in Belgium, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Croatia, Bulgaria, Poland, Denmark, Sweden?

Jon Kingsbury, Southampton, UK

Further migration into the UK should only be allowed from the EU.
The constrained immigration debate we seem to be having appears only possible if the subject is white EU nationals.

wayne, huntingdon , cambs

After a decade of broken promises and chimerical aspirations pardon me for saying so but TALK IS CHEAP"!!!!!!!!!!!!

philip, Ipswich,

Yes Labour have completely lost control of the borders, they have no idea how many people have ,
and continue to pour in. It sounds as if Brown has found another naive wimp in Mr Byrne he obviously
doesn't read the newspapers he would know there is no border control and once they are in the country
he will have no show of getting rid of them. The good old EU courts will make sure of that.

Barry Holmes, Christchurch, New Zealand

Pathetic excuses. Shortage of labour? What about the unemployed ? Introduce "no job, no benefit", and labour will be found.

Terry Dell, Weybridge, UK

Has Liam Byrne ever heard of the saying about closing the gates after the horses has bolted? In 2004 the Home Office estimated that 13,000 "New" Europeans will come to the UK each year. In the Polish elections last week, SKY News reported that 850,000 Polish citizens in the UK voted. 850,000? So how many Polish people are there in the UK? Double or treble this 850,000? And what about the Czechs? Lithanians? etc. There is nothing the Government can do about Romanians and Bulgarians coming to the UK. They will come as self employed, tourist or just work without papers, just like my Romanian decorator.

george, london, uk