Tories aim to curb EU freedom of movement in migration crackdown

Europe minister David Lidington said: "We will be wanting to make certain at a European as well as a national level that the right of people to work or retire around Europe does not become a right to travel around in order to collect social security benefits or commit crime.

Lidington indicated that the coalition would seek to change the rules surround new members joining the political bloc so there were "qualitative benchmarks" they must pass. He was speaking at a Tory party conference fringe event on European reform in Birmingham on Tuesday night.

Appearing alongside him, Tory MEP Vicky Ford told HuffPostUK that her party was bound by its manifesto pledges on immigration to seek to curb European freedom of movement."If we don't negotiate some of the conditions around [the freedom of movement], then we will have broken our election manifesto pledge, she said.

The pair's remarks, made at a discussion hosted by the eurosceptic Business for Britain pressure group, the Centre for European Reform and Business for New Europe, come as pressure mounted for Britain to curb European free movement.