EU grows to 27

One of the things the new year has brought is an increase in the size of the European Union to 27 with Bulgaria and Romania the latest additions.

When any new member state joins the EU the same question is always asked: How many will migrate to Britain?

Now with Bulgaria and Romania I don’t feel we face anything like the same situation when Poland joined. Bulgaria’s and Romania’s population combined isn’t as much as Poland’s. So the discussions over a new wave of mass immigration are unfounded. Besides the Government appears to of learnt from the previous time, by placing restrictions on migrant workers from the new countries.

However one thing that is interesting about the restrictions the Government has implemented is the admission of self employed workers. Any EU citizen is allowed to come to the UK to work, providing they are to work self employed, including those from Bulgaria and Romania.

Now I would of thought it would be much better for the UK if migrants were employed? That way under the PAYE system we know that taxes are being paid. If migrants are self employed how do we know they are even working? If they are working how do we know that their tax returns are being completed, and if they’re not, is it possible for the HMRC to find the workers. The HMRC isn’t exactly the most organised organisation anyway!