THE number of Eastern European migrants claiming benefits has almost doubled in the last year, costing the taxpayer up to £190million annually.

Around 267,000 migrants who came here to work are now receiving or claiming benefits – almost a fifth of those who have arrived since 2004.


The huge drain on public funds came as tens of thousands more Poles and their neighbours arrived in the first quarter of this year.


The latest Home Office figures are another example of the huge strain migration has placed on local authorities and the public purse.

I want to see limits placed on the number of "Free Loaders" coming into the UK for a handy fistful of notes.