I find this 'welfare scrounger' outrage coming from britain laughable. Britain has the least generous welfare system of any rich european country, yet you get the most compaints from there.
It's because we're the most accomodating. Seriously, try speaking to the Swedish or French government in anything other than the national language. Only the UK will automatically hire a translator. Generous welfare is no use if you can't claim it. That's the secret of most European countries.
Why do you think all those people already in a safe country, France, are trying to get from Sangatte to Dover? It's not "asylum" once you're already safe!
France/Germany restricted entrance from the enlarged EU; whereas upper estimates of 500,000 new migrants entered the UK.
From an economic perspective the backlash has been undeserved:
broad agreement that immigration is likely to have reduced the natural rate of unemployment ... By 2006Q3, only 353/2328 applications for income support; 859/5154 applications for incoming based jobseekers allowance;
("The Impact of the Recent Migration from Eastern Europe on the UK Economy" Monetary Policy Committee, Bank of England.)
