Polish workers now quitting the recession-blighted UK will tuck into their festive dish of carp this Christmas safe from the censure of Britons, who prefer turkey. In Poland, carp are food, especially at Christmas. But in Bedford, Poles who caught and killed the delicacy were branded “barbarians” by the local newspaper, according to Urszula Jukes, director of Access Europe, a local recruitment business.
Polski hydraulik/AFP
Mrs Jukes, 35, blames the media for a broader deterioration in the never very cordial welcome the UK has extended to its 800,000 Polish migrant workers, 9,000 of whom live in this comfortable market town. “They wrote that Poles were only here to claim benefits, which was untrue,” says Mrs Jukes.
When the UK opened its borders to European Union accession countries in 2004, the strong economy lured an influx of eastern European job seekers. “How dare they come over here, doing work Britons do not want for less money than Britons would demand,” was the refrain of comedians parodying a reaction of mingled xenophobia and gratitude. But now Poles are at the bleeding edge of the downturn, concentrated in badly hit sectors such as construction, often as vulnerable subcontractors and agency workers. A reverse migration has begun. Read more
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