Poland has signed an agreement to end the double taxation of hundreds of thousands of Polish workers who flooded to work in the UK following Poland’s entry to the European Union more than two years ago.

Almost 400,000 citizens from east Europe, 61 per cent of them from Poland, have applied to work in the UK since their countries joined the EU in 2004. Only the UK, Ireland and Sweden initially allowed free access to workers from the eight accession countries.