A warm welcome to the Slovakian trolly dolly on the 15.15 from Colchester

 

The EU-25 should become 27 from January 1. The UK's done its bit to see that Romania and Bulgaria join the club and yesterday the European Union (Accessions) Bill gained its Lords third reading.

 

While Bucharest and Sofia may not seem ideal holiday home locations, expect property prices to soar there once they Romania and Bulgaria join, especially if easyJet and Ryanair get in on the act.

 

While opponents of the European Union will whinge that yet mnore migrant workers will be knocking on the doors of UK factories and call centres, they ought to heed the warning from a conference in Vienna that the EU faces a shortage of 20million workers by the year 2030.

 

Between 2005 and 2030, the number of people aged more than 65 is set to increase by 52% to 40million, while there will be a shortfall in the number of people of working age (15-64 years) of 20.8milllion.

 

The declining birthrate plus longevity is to blame.  So if we want our trains to run on time in 2030 - which is more than they do now - we will have to accept that the 15.15 Colchester to Peterborough flyer might well be crewed by a Slovenian driver, a Turkish ticket collector and a Slovakian trolly dolly.

 

And why not? After all, without migrants from Jamaica, Barbados and other West Indian islands, London's public transport system would have ground to a halt 40 odd years ago.