A huge rise in immigration from eastern Europe next year could cause chaos in schools, hospitals and welfare services, according to a leaked report.
It also warns that ministers may be forced to abandon their refusal to grant council houses and welfare benefits to new arrivals who do not work, creating an extra "pull factor" attracting further immigrants.
The arrival of hundreds of thousands of new arrivals is already pushing down wages for workers, with potentially "serious implications"
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for social discord, the document says.
It reveals that government departments have been ordered to draw up emergency plans to deal with pressure on public services from an expected "step change" in immigration levels when Romania and Bulgaria join the EU next year.
The report, written by junior Home Office Minister Joan Ryan and called Migration from Eastern Europe: Impact On Public Services And Community Cohesion, was leaked to the Mail on Sunday.
Ms Ryan says many more English teachers will be needed to deal with a huge rise in the number of eastern European children unable to speak the language.
East European patients are also already "blocking" hospital beds because they are ineligible for social care and benefits if they leave.
Meanwhile, towns and cities where large numbers of new immigrants have settled are already demanding millions of pounds of extra money to cope.
The document, marked "restricted", is dated July 19, the day after Ms Ryan submitted another report saying that 45,000 "undesirable" criminal migrants from Romania and Bulgaria may settle in Britain next year.
The number of immigrants to Britain since Poland and seven other east European countries joined the EU two years ago is now estimated at 600,000, compared with the Government's original prediction of between 5,000 and 13,000 a year. Ministers expect this number to rise by up to another 140,000 next year.
2006-07-31
00:11:44
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