Migrants from Spain, Portugal and Italy helped to push the number of EU migrants working in the UK to a record level last year, official figures show.
The number of EU-born workers rose by more than a quarter of a million to top 2.2 million, driven by a big increase in those from the original EU member states. Workers born in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and France rose by 22 per cent from 797,000 to 974,000 in the year.
The number of Romanian and Bulgarian workers rose by 46,000 to reach a record 232,000, while workers born in east European states including Poland and the Baltic states rose by 30,000 to 974,000.
Migration experts said that Britain’s stronger economy compared with that of