Prime minister warned: no need to alter EU migrant rules after verdict

David Cameron has been warned there is no need for fundamental changes to EU immigration rules, after the European court of justice (ECJ) ruled that member states already had the power to stop jobless migrants claiming many benefits for up to five years.

The prime minister welcomed the “commonsense ruling” of the Luxembourg court, but the legal decision could hamper No 10’s efforts to persuade other EU countries they need to change the fundamental principle of free movement.

In a case relating to a Romanian woman living in Germany, the European judgment made it clear that jobless migrants who cannot support themselves and have never worked do not have to be given some non-contributory welfare payments for up to five years after they arrive in a new country.

Cameron described the ruling as “a step in the right direction because, as I’ve said, the right to go and work in another European country should not be an unqualified right. There should be rules about restricting benefits and this is good news”.

The European commission said it was too early to determine how the ruling would affect the UK but said it had always stressed that free movement was a qualified right and not an unconditional one.

Senior Conservative sources said they believed it would give legal backing to a plan to bar jobseekers from the EU from receiving all out-of-work benefits once the universal credit system had been rolled out. . “It is good for the proposal that we’re making with regard to universal credit. It backs up the arguments,” one source said.  More at Guardian