A nation of lazy, picky and ill-equipped Britons has left the country relying on Eastern European migrants to keep the economy competitive, former CBI director general Sir Digby Jones warned yesterday.

His scathing criticisms came as official figures showed 50,000 migrants from former Eastern bloc nations moved to the Midlands in two years, prompting calls for restrictions on immigration.

The Home Office revealed 427,000 Eastern Europeans have come to Britain from countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, which joined the European Union in 2004.

As calls mounted to restrict the next wave, from Romania and Bulgaria, Sir Digby said if it had not been for migrants, willing to work harder and for less money, the country would be in danger of losing out to cheaper producers overseas.

"We are becoming lazier and more complacent and picky and are living in a world which has changed forever - where China wants your lunch and India wants your dinner.

"Poles come in and are more reliable, more dependable and prepared to work harder for less. They bring skills, frankly, we don't have enough of.

"If it was not for them we wouldn't get fruit picked, houses built or served in restaurants. We can't have it both ways - 'I don't want to work hard or do that sort of job, but we don't want Poles'."

Sir Digby said if Poles did not do low-paid jobs, the UK could expect to see swathes of jobs overseas.

"This is a wake-up call for Britain," he said. "The world does not owe us a living, the world is our living.

"People who say, 'if only you paid us a decent wage, British workers would do the work', I would say, 'what is a decent wage?' We can't dictate wages. We have to compete on a global level."

He said if Britain liked low inflation, it should thank the Poles because they were prepared to work for less and kept wage inflation down.

"If we have an education system which is not delivering into the workplace - in terms of people who can read and write and count - and we have decided we don't want to work for the money we earn, but we quite like low inflation and cheaper mortgages, we should be very, very pleased the Poles are here," he added.

However, he backed calls urging caution against extending the same open doors welcome to Bulgarians and Romanians.

"I think there's a worry about Romania and Bulgaria because they don't have the same skills as the Poles. And they have a history in their country of corruption, and our infrastructure like schools and roads are under a lot of pressure."

The Home Office said 51,370 workers from former Communist countries are living in the Midlands, even though the Government predicted only 13,000 would move to the whole of Britain each year.

It has put the Prime Minister Tony Blair under increasing pressure to agree to introduce new controls on immigration before the next round of EU expansion.

Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the EU in January, potentially opening the door to a new wave of immigrants.

Other countries such as France imposed strict limits on the number of Eastern Europeans they would allow in. But Britain, along with just Ireland and Sweden, adopted an "open door" policy with no restrictions.