Migrants Taking Nine in Ten New Jobs since the Election, Coalition Poverty Czar Reveals

Almost nine out of ten jobs created since the election went to immigrants, the Coalition’s poverty czar has revealed.

Former Labour minister Frank Field, brought in to advise the Government last year, criticised David Cameron’s plans to reform welfare as nowhere near radical enough–because they do not punish the workshy or reward those who have contributed to National Insurance.

He also said he believed the public wanted tougher sanctions forcing the long-term unemployed back to work.

Mr Field dismissed proposals to simplify the benefits system as nothing more than ‘Gordon Brown’s approach, on speed’.

‘Good, reliable’ people who have worked hard and paid NI should be helped more than those who have not, he said.

Figures uncovered by Mr Field show that in the first year of the Coalition, 87 per cent of the 400,000 newly created jobs have gone to immigrants, because Britons are too lazy to chase work.

Embarrassingly for Mr Cameron, the proportion of new jobs going to immigrants is actually higher now than it was in Labour’s last year in office.

But his attempts to get to grips with the problem have to some extent been scuppered by Business Secretary, Vince Cable, who opposes an immigration cap.

In an article for the Daily Telegraph, Mr Field said: ‘I fear that, at the next election, we will still be having the same debate on welfare reform as we had at the last four.’ And he said tougher sanctions were needed to force back to work those who refused jobs that they believed ‘were only fit for immigrants’.

Mr Field said: ‘This group of recidivist, workless claimants know from past experience governments leave them alone.’

Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has unveiled plans to simplify benefits into a single universal credit designed to ensure those in work are always better off.

Last night, a source close to Mr Duncan Smith said the figures on immigrant workers were a Labour legacy.

The source said: ‘When faced with young, sparky Eastern Europeans coming here to work, it is essential that Britons have the skills to compete.’