One in ten respondents told Budget Van Insurance of bad experiences with manual workers from Poland and other newly-acceded EU states. But just five per cent said the same for British tradesmen. Despite these statistics however, the majority of householders (65%) said they had „no preference” over the nationality of workers.

Today’s survey also reveals that one-fifth of Britons find it difficult to find skilled tradesmen to carry out jobs for them. „Demand for skilled tradesmen remains strong with many of us finding it tough to get the people we need to carry out essential jobs,” said Budget Van Insurance’s Lisa Corston. „Historically we’ve imported the skills of tradesmen where there have been gaps in the labor market and it seems that this tradition is set to continue.”

„The good news is that most people seem satisfied with the work carried out by those outside of the UK. Our advice is that customers should be clear from the outset about exactly what it is they want – this avoids any unwelcome surprises at the end of any jobs done.” Thousands of economic migrants have arrived in the UK since the fifth stage of EU enlargement in 2004, which saw Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia accede. (Inthenews.co)