British PM attacks Poles' dignity says 'furious' MEP

PM Cameron at EU summit on Friday: photo - EPA

"They are not citizens of the United Kingdom but are in some sense under your care," member of the European Parliament Pawel Kowal writes in an open letter to British prime minister David Cameron.

"When you say that opening the British labour market to Poles was a mistake, you are attacking their dignity and this is not for the first time," Kowal writes in the letter, adding that he was "furious" after the remarks PM Cameron made following the EU summit in Brussels on Friday.

Cameron said after calling for stricter immigration controls within the EU: “I think the mistake the last government made of giving unfettered immediate access to the UK labour markets by Poland, Hungary and the Baltic member states in one go was a huge mistake."

It was estimated before Poland and other CEE countries joined the EU in 2004 that tens of thousands would take up the opportunity of moving to work in Britain.

In the event, hundreds of thousands came to the UK, putting immigration at the top of the political agenda in Britain.

Cameron said vast movements of people did not have the public’s support and added that in some cases had “not been brilliant for the countries concerned”.

In November, former foreign minister for the previous Labour government in Britain, Jack Straw also said that letting Poles and others into the UK in an uncontrolled way a "spectacular mistake"

MEP Kowal, however, says that Poles have and will continue to make a significant contribution to the UK's economy.

"According to calculations by the Sobieski Institute, one of Poland's leading think-tanks in the next seven years, Poles will increase UK GDP by 63.7 billion euros," the MEP writes.

On plans floated by PM Cameron to restrict EU migrants' eligibility for welfare benefits in Britain, Kowal adds that those claiming payments were "a fraction of Polish immigrants". (pg)