 I'm Professor in EU Law and Senior Fellow in the UK and a Changing Europe programme. I want to talk a bit today about migration and benefits. We know from the press that the real concern in some quarters is that migrants come here simply to claim benefits. I want to talk a bit about the research that I've been doing with Dr Amy Ludlow, which has been looking at why migrants come to the United Kingdom. Before I do that, I just want to say a word or two about the legal framework in which they come and which gives them entitlements. So EU migrants, nationals of member states of other countries in the European Union, have got the right to come to the United Kingdom to work, to seek work, to work as self-employed persons and also to provide services. All of that is laid down by the treaty. The treaty also enables them not only to work but to reside here while they are working and also crucially to be treated equally with nationals in respect of the terms and conditions of employment but also in respect of what is called social advantages and tax advantages. That can include benefits. Now that's one of the reasons why Polish migrant workers can claim tax credits on the same term as nationals. If you are low paid and you've got family responsibilities, then your pay can be supplemented by tax credits and they must be paid on the same terms as for national domestic workers. The question is, are migrants coming here for benefits? Let's look at some figures. First point is that last year about 270,000 EU migrants came to the United Kingdom. Now that actually is a smaller number than the number of non-EU migrants. So migrants coming from Pakistan or Australia or Canada, the figure there was about 277,000. Why have they all come? Well if you look at the chart you will see that in the case of EU migrants about 40% come for work. They've already got jobs and another 30% or so come to look for work. The numbers are much smaller for non-EU migrants who are coming to the UK and of course in respect of non-EU migrants coming to the UK the UK has much stricter control over their entry and residence. In respect of EU migrants there is an almost automatic entitlement to enter and to reside and after the first three months provided that you've got enough resource to look after yourself and support yourself and your family while you're here. So as I've said, as you can see from the graphics, the numbers coming from the EU to work are high. It's about 70% if you add together those working who've already got jobs and those who are looking for work. Does that coincide with the experience that we have found when we've been talking to our interviewees in the context of our project? And actually the answer is yes. Quite clearly people tell us that the reason why they're coming to the United Kingdom is first of all work, either to look for work or to take up jobs they've already got and pay, pay differentials substantially higher between Lithuania and the United Kingdom. And you'll see the picture of Thelma. Thelma we met in a shop, Eastern European shop in Peterborough. She'd given up a job working in an office in Lithuania to come and work in the UK. And the reason why she did it was simple, pay was much higher. We asked her about benefits and she looked really quite perplexed and she said, I have no idea how to get into the benefits system here. I don't understand the rules. I'm here to work and to earn money. The other reason why people come is to broaden their experience, to make themselves more employable when they go back to their own country and also to improve their English because again they think it makes them more employable. None of our interviewees have said they come for benefits although a number have said we know other people who might have done but nobody has said to us that they have come for benefits and a lot of them express perplexity at the benefits system in the UK. They have no idea how to get into it. Now you might say of course they would say that wouldn't they because they're being interviewed by you and they know what the agenda is and of course there is a risk but that is our empirical observation. Now despite the fact that it's not just us but other comparable research has said EU migrants aren't coming here for benefits that was the main focus of David Cameron's renegotiation back in February in Brussels and you'll recall that in the February renegotiation what you have is David Cameron trying to finally get a deal whereby he can say to the country that he's now going to support the Remain campaign and he got two big ticket items. The first big ticket item was the so-called emergency break. Now he wanted to prohibit EU migrants for the first four years getting in-work benefits tax credits. He didn't get that. What he got instead was the permission to ask the European Union if a process could be put in place whereby in-work benefits would be tailored. So in the first year no in-work benefits and then an increasing number up until the end of four years when migrants will get the same number of benefits, same amount as UK nationals. He also negotiated restrictions on the so-called exportability of child benefit. So if a Polish worker comes to the UK and has children back in Poland under EU law you can send back the child benefit to your children in Poland. David Cameron wanted to stop that. He didn't negotiate that successfully but what he got instead was permission to get involved in a negotiation process which will mean that the child benefit if it's sent back to Poland is indexed to the standard of living in Poland. Now crucially with these two reforms they will only take effect if there's a vote to remain on the 23rd of June and in fact they do both require amendments to secondary legislation to EU regulations and that will go through the normal EU legislative process. So in conclusion are migrants coming for benefits? The empirical evidence suggests they're not. Indeed evidence does show that EU migrants contribute far more to the economy than they take out in benefits. They contribute approximately three billion in terms of tax, national insurance and they take out about half a billion in terms of benefits. But that's not to deny the fact that the spread of migration and the impact on local communities is highly variable across the United Kingdom and there are some areas which have suffered what locals perceive as a decline in public services. You can't get to see a GP, you can't get your children into local schools because of the number of migrants. So although you've got a global figure that actually migration is good for the economy there are local impacts which are quite serious.