Mr McNulty was interviewed after a Newsnight investigation discovered there were 3, 000 Polish immigrants living in Crewe, which has a total working population of about 60, 000.

BBC: NEWS | UK | UK had 'no idea' over EU migrants

Meanwhile, the total working age population - those aged between 15 and 64 - will fall by 20m.

BBC: Business

You might think, then, that if we looked at the average number of hours worked by all those of working age - dividing the total number of hours worked by the working age population - Germany would come out on top.

BBC: Are Greeks the hardest workers in Europe?