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Half of Poles in UK 'plan to return home' |
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Tue 8th Apr 2008 
By Matthew Day in Gostynin After years of haemorrhaging its finest brains, hardest workers and best plumbers to Britain, Poland could soon be welcoming its emigres back home. The Warsaw-based Centre for International Relations, a leading think-tank, has revealed that 51 per cent of Poles in Britain plan on moving back, with just 23 per cent intending to remain in the UK. Migration experts believe that the numbers returning will be swelled by thousands of Poles who made an economic success of their stay in Britain and have now saved enough money to buy property or start a business in their homeland. advertisementThe report comes in the wake of speculation that the diminishing power of sterling may discourage further Polish emigration to Britain and force thousands to return home. Economists have said that with the pound falling from seven Polish zloties last summer to around 4.7 now, many of the estimated 600,000 Poles who have moved to Britain could see their saving power slashed by more than 35 per cent. Many of those who have returned already are setting their plans in motion. Down a rutted and frost-encrusted track deep in the Polish countryside lies the reason why Robert Kucharski left England. With pride the 26-year-old points to the pattern of low walls marking the foundations of a house that, when completed, will command views of a nearby lake. The money for his home comes from years toiling as a chef in London, renting just one room in a flat in Leyton with his girlfriend. In December, and with £32,000 in his bank account, he waved goodbye to Britain. "I never planned to stay in the UK," said Mr Kucharski at his parents' house in Gostynin, a town 65 miles west of Warsaw. The chef, who also wants to open a restaurant with his British money, added that all the Poles he knows in Britain have the same goals: save as much as they can and leave. Although hard figures on the numbers returning remain scarce, Dr Marek Kupiszewski, the director of the European Forum for Migration Research, said: "The successful migrants are starting to come home. They went to Britain for two years with the aim of buying a flat or starting a business back in Poland and now they can." Poles returning home will be welcomed with open arms by their government, which, alarmed by the flight of much-needed labour as the country enjoys an economic boom, has promised to lure expats home. With the pound's fall predicted to continue, the government may only need to make a small effort. "With the exchange rate like that you just can't save enough money to make moving to England worthwhile," said Mr Kucharski. "This will stop people from going, for sure." |
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