LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron will promise to ban migrants from the European Union claiming welfare for their first four years in a drive to slash immigration, in a Friday speech.
The plan for tougher rules has been much anticipated and comes after the release of embarrassing official figures that showed migration had grown under Cameron's watch despite promises to reduce it.
Under pressure to curb immigration from the anti-EU UK Independence Party ahead of the May 2015 election, Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain's membership of the bloc and hold an in-out referendum in 2017.
The Conservative leader will not rule out campaigning for an exit from the EU if a satisfactory deal is not reached, according to an advance copy of a speech he is to give on Friday.
"If I succeed, I will, as I have said, campaign to keep this country in a reformed EU," Cameron will say.
"If our concerns fall on deaf ears and we cannot put our relationship with the EU on a better footing, then of course I rule nothing out."
The speech will say that EU migrants should have a job offer before moving to Britain and that unemployed migrants should not be allowed to stay.
Cameron will promise to block EU migrants who do have work from claiming benefits such as tax credits and social housing until they have been resident for four years.
Incentives should also be removed for lower-paid and lower-skilled workers to come to Britain in the first place.
In addition, migrants will not be able to claim child benefits or tax credits for children who live elsewhere in the EU.
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