Until now, at least Britain had a simple, principled and beneficial stance towards migrants from the new EU member states: they could come and work freely, but not claim welfare benefits. It was a policy in keeping with our country’s liberal traditions and our longstanding support for East Europeans in their struggle to break free from communism and then to join the EU. It was a policy that boosted Britain’s economy without causing social dislocation.

It would have made eminent sense, then, to extend this successful open-door policy to Bulgaria and Romania once they join the EU in January. But unfortunately, the Home Secretary has decided otherwise. He has opted instead for a policy that will satisfy nobody: a bureaucratic dog’s breakfast that panders to anti-immigrant prejudice but is all growl and no bite.

From next year all Bulgarians and Romanians will be allowed to travel to Britain without a visa, but only some will be free to work legally. Doctors and other highly skilled workers will be entitled to work, as will those with specific skills that are proclaimed to be in short supply and students (but only part-time). So too will the self- employed, such as builders and plumbers. However, low-skilled workers will be permitted to seek jobs only in farming or food processing. Even then, there will be a quota of 19,750 places.

A panel of wise men, the new Migration Advisory Council, will try to divine the future employment needs of the entire British economy — I mean, advise the Government on whether more low-skilled workers are required, and whether other sectors might benefit from the sweat of Romanians and Bulgarians. And who does Mr Reid think should manage this devilishly complex new scheme? Of course, the Home Office’s Immigration and Nationality Directorate, the body described as “unfit for purpose” by one J. Reid.

This harebrained scheme is unworkable, undesirable and unnecessary. It will not prevent Bulgarians and Romanians working in Britain; it will encourage them to do so illegally, or by becoming self-employed. After all, if a Bulgarian kitchen porter can’t be employed in a hotel legally, what is to stop him setting up as a sole trader and contracting his services to several hotels — or more likely, just working on the black market, opening himself up to exploitation?

Mr Reid’s answer is on-the-spot fines of up to £1,000 for immigrants working illegally, and unlimited ones (anything from £5,000 upwards) for employers. It sounds tough, but enforcing them would require an expensive, highly intrusive and so far non- existent army of inspectors. Only 24 employers have been prosecuted for hiring illegal workers since 2001. And even if the Government did recruit a beefed-up body of inspectors, what could they do if a Bulgarian caught red-handed working on the black did not have £1,000 to pay the fine? Very little: once Bulgaria and Romania are EU members, the Home Office cannot simply deport their citizens.

The onus, then, would have to be on employers to enforce the rules. But how? What is to stop immigrants using forged papers? As the US experience shows, businesses do not have the manpower or skills to police immigration law effectively, but requiring them to do so poses a huge financial and administrative burden.

The Government assured the public that Britain would attract a mere 13,000 immigrants a year from the new East European members of the EU that joined in 2004. Well, the official prediction proved wide of the mark. So how, then, are we supposed to believe that the Government has any idea how many low-skilled workers the economy will need next year? And by what scientific formula did it come to the quota figure of 19,750?

With or without such an arbitrary limit, a surge of Bulgarian and Romanian migrants is unlikely. Most of those who want to work abroad have already emigrated, mostly to Spain and Italy. And since birds of a feather tend to stick together, most new migrants are likely to head to those two countries too.

But even if many do end up coming to Britain, what’s wrong with that? Opening the door to Polish plumbers and Lithuanian labourers has hardly devastated the country. Quite the reverse: the East Europeans are doing jobs that British people can’t or won’t do. Their labour has enabled the economy to continue growing faster for longer without sparking inflation or lengthening the dole queues.

Contrary to the alarmism, this open door has proved to be a revolving one. About 600,000 East Europeans may have come to work in Britain since May 2004, but most have already gone home again: ONS figures show that in the year to June 2005 net migration — the extra number of East Europeans staying longer than 12 months — was only 74,000. In short, they boosted Britain’s population by a mere 0.12 per cent.

Mr Reid is an intelligent man. He must be aware of all this. But still he opts to play to the anti-immigration gallery. Such are the depths to which new Labour has plummeted. The one certainty is that the result of his absurd scheme will be another salvo of media stories of Home Office incompetence.