ST ALBANS MP Anne Main has urged the government to clamp down on benefit abuses by EU migrants.

Raising the issue in a debate in Westminster, Mrs Main spoke of the need to protect the UK’s pension pot and hard-working families who pay their taxes.

Leading the debate, which saw Mrs Main and Employment Minister Chris Grayling on the cover of national newspaper The Express today, the Conservative MP for St Albans highlighted the case of an EU migrant pensioner who tried to claim a UK pension top-up to her Latvian pension even though she had not paid into the UK system. She described this as “a staggering case of opportunistic lifestyle enhancement”.

After the debate, Mrs Main said: “I am very concerned that this individual case may set a dangerous costly precedent allowing those who have not contributed to our pension pot to reap the benefits. I am aware that the EU has written to our government about this but we must not be bullied into altering our position.

“I welcome the government’s commitment to fight to keep our pension pot our own. We have been asked to bite the bullet at home in order to cut our deficit and our own pensions are under reform; to be dishing out taxpayers cash in this way would be ludicrous.”