The millionth Polish builder cometh

Got some bad numbers? No problem. Bury them in some good ones! Liam Byrne (whom Austin Mitchell yesterday accused of shafting our Anzac wartime allies) plays a blinder with the release of some 2007 immigration numbers today.

There are 20 paragraphs in the Home Office release. The first 15 are all about how great the Border and Immigration Agency is at kicking people out of Britain. The final five are about the rather less fortunate fact that Britain let in almost 450,000 people from the eight EU accession states of eastern and central Europe in 2006 and 2007.

Which means that 750,000 Eastern Europeans have entered Britain on official work permits since 2004. Which means that, in all likelihood, sometime this year the millionth eastern European worker will enter Britain (with Romania and Bulgaria included). Westmonster fancies a few people might be thinking of a small reception. We're thinking the Guardian down one side of the street with organic vol-au-vents and some very good wines, and the Mail down the other with steak pies and bile.