The number of Eastern European migrants seeking work in Britain has fallen to its lowest level since 2004 after topping more than 850,000, indicating that the UK economy is slowing down.

The number of Eastern European migrants seeking work in Britain has fallen to its lowest level since 2004 after topping more than 850,000, indicating that the UK economy is slowing down.

Some 38,000 people from the eight EU accession countries in former Eastern Europe, were registered to work in the UK in the second quarter of 2008, 14,000 fewer than the same period last year. Another 2000 had applications rejected.

The latest figures took the number of so-called A8 nationals - largely Poles - approved under the worker registration scheme to 854,000. But applications between April and June this year were lower than at any time since the accession.

In Scotland there was a total net migration of 16,800 people from abroad in 2006-07 with 37,800 immigrants while 21,000 foreign nationals outmigrated. More UK residents moved to Scotland overall with 51,546 settling while 42,697 left giving a net increase of 8849.

It emerged separately that The Office of National Statistics said the population of the UK grew by nearly two million between 2001 and 2007 with the number of people in Britain reaching 60,975,000 by the middle of last year, up 388,000 on mid-2006.