Bulgarians and Romanians will not be given the automatic right to work in the UK once their countries join the EU, John Reid, the Home Secretary, indicated today.

Mr Reid said that migration from the two former communist countries, which are due to join the EU on January 1st, had to be "carefully managed."

It is the strongest hint yet from the government that workers from the two former communist countries will not be given the same unrestricted access to British jobs as was given to other Eastern European countries including Poland and Hungary when they joined the EU in 2004.

However, the Government’s options are tightly constrained by EU law, and there are severe doubts that it can in reality do much to curb any new influx.

The Government has come under intense pressure to change its open-door policy after far more workers came from Eastern Europe than expected.

The Government had predicted between 5,000 and 13,000 workers a year would come, but it now estimates that in fact around 600,000 have arrived in the biggest immigrant influx to Britain since the Hugenots in the 17th century, pushing the population over 60 million.

Speaking to the Police Superintendents’ Association annual conference, the Home Secretary warned that the planned expansion of the EU would have an impact on policing and crime.

"As global migration increases and the EU continues to expand, we need to be ready for fresh challenges - including in the law enforcement field. That is why we need to manage immigration carefully, including in respect of the forthcoming decision over Romania and Bulgaria" he said.

He continued: "We need to consider very carefully all the implications of accession of new states and ensure that we have all the necessary safeguards in place, right down to local borough level, to reassure the public that this movement will be managed fairly and competently."

The Home Office is particularly concerned that the flourishing organised crime gangs of the two countries will use EU membership to extend their operations in Britain.

Officials stressed that no formal decision would be made until the accession of Bulgaria and Romania is confirmed by Brussels in a few weeks’ time. However, they are considering a range of options including a work permit scheme, so that Bulgarians and Romanians would have to apply for a permit to work in the UK as at present.

However, the Government is powerless under EU law to stop the wholesale scrapping of the current visa regime, whereby citizens of those two countries have to get a visa before they can travel to the UK.

Under European law, from the day that Bulgaria and Romania join the EU all their citizens will have the right to travel to and live in the UK, and to work on a self-employed basis.

The Government can only restrict the right to take up paid employment for a maximum of seven years, after which all such controls must be removed.

Critics have warned that giving all Romanians and Bulgarians the right to travel to the UK and live in the UK, but not to work will, simply spark a massive expansion of the black market.

Commenting after Mr Reid's speech David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "It is all very well for the Home Secretary to indicate there will be restrictions, but what we need is a firm decision to end uncertainty.

"It is clear what that decision should be. We have called on the Government to impose restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians. The Government should heed that call."

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