Britain must welcome more migrant workers from countries where unemployment is soaring.

Britain should be ready to accept more immigrants from the rest of Europe because it has a lower level of unemployment, Brussels said today.

The European Commission claimed there was no evidence that migrant workers take jobs from British nationals, and vowed to make it easier for jobseekers to move around the continent.

The move was held up as proof that the government has ‘lost control of our borders’.

The European Commission said it wanted to make it easier for workers to move around the continent, arguing there is no evidence that migrants take jobs from locals

The Commission said ‘labour mobility’ benefits both the workers and the countries they arrive in.

It suggested migrants help to ‘fill vacancies that would otherwise not be filled’.

Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Laszlo Andor said: ‘The free movement of workers is a key principle of the EU’s single market.In a statement the Commission added: ‘There is no evidence that migrant workers take jobs away from host country workers.’

‘With much higher levels of unemployment in some member states than others at the moment, it is all the more important to make it easier for those who want to work in another EU country to be able to do so.’

The unemployment rate in Spain and Greece stands at 27 per cent, Portugal 15 per cent and France 10 per cent. Latest figures show in the Britain the rate is 7.8 per cent.

The Commission claims employers are often ignorant of migrant workers’ rights under EU law, including non-discrimination and equal pay. It wants to make it easier for firms to hire foreign staff.

UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said: ‘The timing of this is of course not an accident and this statement has been put out specifically to stick two fingers up at Mr Cameron.The new proposal, if backed by MEPs and EU ministers, will beef up current rules by forcing national authorities to set up dedicated contact points for migrant workers’ information and advice about their rights.

‘It shows clearly that he and this government are entirely impatient despite all their protestations. Membership of the European Union means you have lost control of your borders, ‘It is that simple.

‘To rub salt into the wounds of course they expect the British taxpayer to pick up the tab for training foreign nationals on how to access our welfare system. It would be laughable if it were not so sinister.’

In the UK 4.8 per cent of the labour force is made up of nationals from other member states - 1.4m migrant workers.

Only 1.1 per cent of working age Britons - 330,000 workers - are currently employed in other EU countries.