Home Office draws up plans in case of Romania and Bulgaria 'surprises' Mr Sedwill told the Commons" home affairs select committee: "Over the immediate period after the lifting of transitional controls we're putting in place arrangements across Border Force rather similar to the arrangements with the same kind of management structure as we put in place for the Olympics, just to be absolutely sure that our frontline staff are prepared should there be any surprises." A Home Office spokesman later attempted to play down Mr Sedwill's comments. In a statement that appeared to contradict the permanent secretary's evidence, a spokesman said: "We are expecting business as usual at the border when the transitional controls expire and we will maintain our normal Border Force presence at ports and airports." No official estimates have been made of how many immigrants will come from the two countries. But last week a report by the Democracy Institute, a think tank, suggested that at least 385,000 will arrive in Britain over the next five years. It said the Government was to blame for the "mess" of migration, and described the flood of new arrivals as a "self-inflicted economic migrant own goal." The immigration minister warned last month that the Government is powerless to stop the new phase of Romanian and Bulgarian immigration. Mark Harper said even the British courts would over-rule any measures to extend the restrictions placed on the eastern Europeans. He pledged, however, that Romanian and Bulgarian immigration will be on a far lower scale than when Poland and seven other eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004. Yesterday he told MPs that it was impossible to extend the transitional controls because EU treaties signed by the previous Labour government say they can only run for a maximum of seven years.