Chapter 6 in Rural Wales in the Twenty-First Century: Society, Economy and Environment, pp 109-125

The enlargement of the European Union (EU) into central and eastern Europe in May 2004 extended labour mobility to millions of new citizens. As one of the few countries to give citizens of the ‘accession states’ unrestricted access to its labour market, Britain became a favoured destination for migrant workers from the new EU members, with over 630,000 migrants from central and eastern Europe joining the Worker Registration Scheme in the UK between May 2004 and March 2007.