Lib Dems are the natural party for Eastern Europeans in Britain

Britain's always changing. That is one of the best things about our country.

Liberal Democrats, and before us Whigs and Liberals, have long supported outsiders seeking to make this place their home.

Whigs supported Huguenots - religious refugees from France. In the nineteenth century Liberals supported equality for Jews and Catholics, who were denied basic civil rights.

It is well documented in history that the arrival of new people has made our country greater. Immigrants have brought new talents and energy.

In the second-half of the last century we fought for the Race Relations Act and other laws to ensure equality, as more black and Asian people arrived.

Today, change continues.

EU enlargement, which has opened opportunities for British companies and many British people, has led to many people from Eastern Europe to settle here.

This is not entirely new. Southampton, for example, has had a significant Polish population since the 1940s. But there are many new people. All of us who have been canvassing have met them, in almost every town in England.

I want to say something to new residents,

• "Liberal Democrats welcome you. Liberalni Demokraci zapraszamy. Liberalų demokratų pasveikinti Jus. Liberálni demokrati vítame. Либеральные демократы приветствовать Вас. Liberális Demokraták üdvözöljük."

The way East European people are sometimes talked about in the British media is a disgrace.

In years, decades and centuries' time we will look back on your arrival as having made Britain a better place for us all - including the majority already here. If you get a job or set up a business, we don't believe that your success is the cause of someone else's failure. More often it will be the cause of someone else's success.

To those Britons who worry about whether more people means it will be harder to get work, speaking as a man from a working-class family, all the evidence says it won't. We need to demand government delivers modern education and training that has been in short supply.

To my fellow Liberal Democrats, we must make every effort to establish ourselves as the natural party for residents from Eastern Europe or any other part of the EU.

To citizens of the EU living in Britain, "join the Liberal Democrats." Help us build the best Britain that we can.

* Antony Hook is MEP Candidate for the South East and has practised as a barrister since 2003. His website is here.