A REGISTRATION scheme for East European migrants arriving in Britain this summer will be introduced so that the Government can monitor their numbers and ensure that they are working legally.

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, is expected to announce measures next week restricting benefit entitlements for people from the ten countries joining the European Union on May 1.

The Government has decided against following most other EU members by restricting the right to work for these “new Europeans”. Instead, officials will ask migrants arriving in Britain to register as part of the labour force, providing evidence of an offer of employment, and to give details of where they plan to live and show whether they have means to support themselves without becoming a burden on the welfare state.

Those already here working illegally in the black economy may be given a chance to “regularise” their status if they comply with the registration procedures.

Ministers do not expect the number of migrants coming to Britain from accession states such has Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to exceed 13,000 a year.

Mr Blunkett will promise that legislation for work permits can be introduced swiftly if these predictions turn out to be wrong and Britain is flooded by tens of thousands of impoverished people from former communist states.

Under the terms of the EU Accession Treaty, the Government can ban migrants from working altogether, or restrict numbers from individual states and occupations, for up to two years.

Ministers are more concerned about so-called benefit tourism, by which people arrive in Britain saying that they want work but then start claiming income support or jobseeker’s allowances.

Mr Blunkett will say that the Government will tighten existing rules that require non-British EU workers to pass a “habitual residence test” before being entitled to benefits.

These regulations will be standardised and strengthened to ensure that officials can prevent migrants claiming such benefit for at least a year. “If someone arrives here, works for a week or two and then tries to claim the dole, we will not let them,” a Whitehall source said yesterday.

Although all EU citizens have the right to travel to any member state, the Government intends to enforce rules preventing non-British citizens remaining in Britain for longer than six months if they cannot show that they have sufficient means, including health insurance, to support themselves.

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