Thousands of Poles are fleeing the UK and returning home to booming Polish economy
THOUSANDS of Poles are fleeing the UK and returning home to a nation that is now booming.
The Polish economy is growing so fast – by 4.9 per cent last year – that it is set to overtake Britain’s by 2030.
In January Monika Kowalewska and her software engineer husband Gregory, 33, left their three-bed, £1,000-a-month rented home in Cambridge after 18 years and now live in the Polish city of Gdynia for a FIFTH of the cost.
Saleswoman Monika, 34, said: “The speed at which prices are rising in England is scary.
“Our bills were about £500 a month and we used to spend £100 a week at Morrisons.
“Since we returned to Poland we’ve hardly been to the shops. Prices are so low we can order all our meals on delivery apps.
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“The trains are so cheap you can afford to travel first-class.”
The couple were among more than a million Poles who took advantage of EU freedom of movement laws to settle in Britain, making them our second largest foreign-born population.
Poles previously made up 23 per cent of EU migrants in the UK, and about 10,500 Poles worked in the NHS, its fourth largest non-British nationality.
Poland’s capital Warsaw has become a tech hub where Google and Netflix are among the big US firms setting up offices.
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There are now Facebook groups, forums and blogs about Poles returning home from the UK – and it is also the fifth favourite place for UK pensioners to retire to.
Residents Dorata Amtolok and her daughter Victoria, 18, pay £200 a month to rent a two-bedroom flat.
Their utility and TV bills total £70a month, and Dorata, 45, earns £1,000 a month as a cleaner.
But when they lived in Peterborough, Cambs, she worked up to 50 hours a week for Amazon, her pay after tax was £1,275 and her bills were double.
She said: “My sister moved to England first and I thought it would be the land of opportunity, but it was the most depressing place I’ve ever lived.
“Peterborough’s town centre was like a scene from The Walking Dead, there were so many people smoking drugs.
“I love being home because ordinary people have a good quality of life in Poland.”
