British home secretary wants to change EU immigration rules

British home secretary Teresa Mae

Home Secretary Theresa May wants to change the meaning of 'free movement' in the EU to stop migrants without confirmed jobs coming to Britain, The Telegraph reported Sunday.

The Home Secretary claims the policy should always have 'meant the freedom to move to a job' and not to 'claim benefits' in a hard-hitting article today.

She hit out after being embarrassed by figures that show net migration has hit a record 330,000 a year - more than triple the Tories' target.

In the article she claims four out of 10 EU migrants, around 63,000 people, came to Britain with no definite job confirmed last year.

But it appears she could be referring to the net migration figure - the difference between the number of people entering and leaving Britain to and from the EU.

Compared to actual immigration from the EU of 269,000, 63,000 people would be 23%.

The government's own figures also suggest many EU citizens do find a job once they reach Britain, with 250,000 more in work over the last year than the year before.

Writing in the Sunday Times, May says the net migration figure of 330,000 is "far too high" and "simply unsustainable".

She adds scenes of hundreds of thousands of people risking their lives to reach Europe should act as "wake-up call" to EU leaders.

The Home Secretary claims the policy should always have 'meant the freedom to move to a job' and not to 'claim benefits' in a hard-hitting article today.

She hit out after being embarrassed by figures that show net migration has hit a record 330,000 a year - more than triple the Tories' target.

In the article she claims four out of 10 EU migrants, around 63,000 people, came to Britain with no definite job confirmed last year.

But it appears she could be referring to the net migration figure - the difference between the number of people entering and leaving Britain to and from the EU.

Compared to actual immigration from the EU of 269,000, 63,000 people would be 23%.

The government's own figures also suggest many EU citizens do find a job once they reach Britain, with 250,000 more in work over the last year than the year before.