Immigrants from Bulgaria and Romania working in the UK have backed an anti-immigration initiative by an English newspaper.

British newspaper The Daily Express announced on November 1st a "crusade" to prevent a new surge of European immigration to Britain.

An online petition, under the name "This Time Let Us Keep the Floodgates Closed, say NO to the EU", initiated by The Daily Express that calls on the UK Government to keep controls on Bulgarian and Romanian workers coming there has been signed by 30 000 readers as of Monday, informs express.co.uk.

Surprisingly, the petition has been given unexpected backing – from Bulgarians and Romanians working and living in the UK, reports The Daily Express in an article published on Monday, November 4th.

Window-fitter Mladen Dimitrov, a 34 year old Bulgarian, who lives in Birmingham but works for a Bulgarian company, said: “Opening up markets and letting more people in is only going to make it harder for everyone and drive down rates.”, as cited by the newspaper.

Romanian Bogdan Teodorescu, a 24 Romanian, who picks fruit in Kent during the summer and is a dishwasher in London in the winter, said: “It’s hard enough anyway to get work. “Opening up the border can only make it worse for everyone.”, reports the paper.

Romanian Adela Dumitrache, a 27 Romanian, who works as a nanny in London, said: “There are people here that make a valuable contribution to the economy and they should be allowed to stay and legalised, but they shouldn’t go letting more people in", as cited by The Daily Express.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron says Britain is obliged like other EU member states to lift the labor restrictions for Bulgarians and Romanians, that were imposed when Bulgaria and Romania joined the EU in 2007 and were designed to put a strict limit on their citizens’ rights to work here, reports the paper.

Labor restrictions for Bulgarians and Romanians in the UK are scheduled to be lifted from January 1, 2014.