How Poland is struggling to plug the leaks
It is impossible to find a good plumber in Poland, apparently - because they have all moved to Britain.
Dr Jan Mokrzycki, a spokesman for the Polish community in Britain, said the exodus of workers had caused huge problems back home.
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Flooding in: A group of Eastern European plumbers assembled in London in November 2005
Chief among them is a shortage of nurses. But plumbers are nowhere to be found either.
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• The ethnic baby boom
At least 280 have signed the Government's worker registration scheme. The true total, however, is thought to be in the thousands.
Dr Mokrzycki said the arrival of hundreds of thousands of his countrymen since EU expansion had caused some problems in Britain. But he added: "It is nothing compared to the problems in Poland. A friend of mine had a problem with a gas heater and spent four days trying to get a Polish plumber."
Speaking to a Tory policy review, he also described the voluntary worker registration scheme, which costs £70 to join, as "lunatic".
He said the fee gave a disincentive to sign, putting workers at risk of working for as little as £2.50 an hour in the black market.
All Poles are entitled to work here, but many wrongly think it is illegal to take a job if they are not on the register. As a result, they are duped into working for below minimum wage.
