More than half a million east Europeans have come to Britain since May 2004. The astonishing figure, a rate of almost 590 a day, does not include the self-employed, children or partners.
So the actual number is likely to be closer to 700,000, or one in every 85 people living in the UK.
As well as placing unprecedented pressure on schools, hospitals and roads, the migrants are costing the taxpayer up to £60million in benefits.
According to the Home Office, 55,000 are now in receipt of handouts such as tax credits, child benefit and council housing.
The number claiming state support - which Tony Blair insisted would be kept to a minimum - has risen by almost 30 per cent in the past three months.
Last night the Government faced accusations of breathtaking incompetence on European migration.
The Home Office had predicted only 5,000 to 13,000 citizens of the former Eastern Bloc would arrive per year following the EU expansion.
The 510,000 who have signed the Home Office's worker registration scheme - including 308,000 Poles - is at least 16 times higher than the Government's woeful estimate.
The growth in population is the equivalent of a city the size of Sheffield.
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