From the archive, 13 December 1979: British judge warns about 'tide of EEC immigrants'

http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/dec/13/immigration-europe-uk-housing

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Local authorities are facing a "tide" of immigrants from the Common Market seeking to take advantage of Britain's laws on housing the homeless, Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning, said yesterday.

Word had got round that in England "they will look after you if you have nowhere to live."

The Treaty of Rome gives EEC nationals working in England "the self-same rights as time-worn Englishmen" with regard to pay, working conditions, social security, trade union rights, and access to housing, said the judge. Housing rights include the right of homeless families with young children to claim accommodation from a local authority.

It was just such a claim that was causing concern to Crawley Borough Council in Sussex, which has Gatwick Airport on its doorstep.

Lord Denning, upholding Crawley Council's decision not to accommodate two Italian families because they had deliberately made themselves homeless, said the borough had to stop the flood of such immigrants.

"If any family from the Common Market can fly into Gatwick, stay a month or two with relatives and then claim to be unintentionally homeless, "it would be a most serious matter for the over-crowded borough," said the judge.

The Court of Appeal dismissed appeals by the two families - who were backed by Shelter and fought their case on legal aid - against a High Court judge's ruling last month that Crawley Council was not obliged to house them, pending a full hearing of their claim.

Lord Denning said the council, in the light of surrounding circumstances, was in effect telling the families: "You left Italy and came to Crawley where we are absolutely crowded out ... You ought not to have come here unless you had arranged for permanent accommodation here."

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