London: Europeans will have to prove they are “genuinely seeking employment” to claim UK jobless benefits for more than six months, David Cameron has said, as reported by the BBC.

The prime minister on Monday said it was among measures to ensure people came to the UK “for the right reasons”.

In his speech, Cameron said there were “concerns, deeply held, that some people might be able to come and take advantage of our generosity without making a proper contribution to our country”.

Labour warned against overblown rhetoric and failings in the system.

Meanwhile, border officials would need 24 years to clear their backlog of 320,000 immigration cases, MPs warned on Monday.

Incompetence and foot-dragging is blamed for the sheer number of claims — the equivalent of the population of Iceland.

In its latest report into the immigration agency, the Commons home affairs committee said that for six years the UK Border Agency (UKBA) had repeatedly supplied incorrect information about the size of the asylum backlog and measures supposedly being taken to trace others with whom officials had lost contact.

The committee also said the army of foreign criminals on the streets was growing, with the total now almost 4,000.

The audit into the work of the UKBA found 321,726 outstanding cases involving immigrants.

Keith Vaz, the Labour MP who chairs the home affairs committee, said hardly any progress was being made in clearing the backlog. He holds former UKBA chief executive Lin Homer — Britain’s most senior female mandarin — responsible for much of the debacle.

MPs concluded she was guilty of a ‘catastrophic’ failure of leadership during her time at UKBA.

Vaz said: “No sooner is one backlog closed, than four more are discovered. At this rate it will take 24 years to clear the backlog, which still stands at the size of the population of Iceland.”

Also within the backlog are 3,980 foreign criminals who cannot be deported and have been released on bail by the courts.

This has increased in only three months, despite repeated government promises to kick the offenders out. Six years ago the asylum backlog scandal prompted then home secretary John Reid to brand the immigration system ‘not fit for purpose’.

The committee recommends senior UKBA staff are not paid bonuses until there is evidence the backlog is being ‘substantially’ reduced and new backlogs are not emerging.

Yvette Cooper, Labour’s home affairs spokesman, said: “This highly critical report shows that practical failings in the immigration system are getting worse.”

Immigration minister Mark Harper said: “We have always been clear the UK Border Agency was a troubled organisation with a poor record of delivery.

“Turning it around will take time but I am determined to provide the public with an immigration system they can have confidence in.”

The Border Agency has awarded a £30 million (Dh167 million) contract to outsourcing firm Capita to help track illegals. It began work in October.