Cameron's signal should have been sent long ago It has come to something when an unelected Brussels commissar can denounce this country as "nasty" for wanting to control its borders and protect its own welfare system. Laszlo Andor, the EU Employment Commissioner, yesterday responded to David Cameron's idea of renegotiating the treaty provisions regarding the free movement of people with the arrogance that has made the European project so unpopular in this country. Rather than address an issue exercising voters not just here but across Europe - attested by the widespread rise of anti-EU parties - the Brussels bureaucrats effectively told us to lump it. Viviane Reding, the EU Justice Commissioner, said free movement was non-negotiable because it was a fundamental principle of the EU. This is true; but it is not for the European Commission, which is the civil service of the EU, to close down a discussion that member states may wish to have. It should play a facilitating role. The founders of the EU never envisaged that so many people would move from poor countries to wealthier ones, so Mr Cameron is right to explore whether other states think the rules need to be revised. While we are sceptical about his chances, he should at least be allowed to make the attempt. As to his proposed restrictions on access to the UK's benefits system for EU nationals, these are long overdue. The Government believes tightening the qualification rules will comply with existing treaty obligations - in which case, why was it not done before? Other EU countries apply tougher benefit rules than we do, but they do so for everyone. If anything, this exposes the missed opportunity for far more radical welfare reform here based on contribution rather than residency. It is absurd, for instance, that child benefit should be paid to offspring living abroad. The practice should either end, or the payment should be limited to the same level as would be paid in the applicant's home country. None the less, it is an EU rule that member state nationals cannot be treated differently; so any discrimination will be challenged in the European Court, whose ruling would be binding on the UK. In trying to show political strength, therefore, Mr Cameron risks demonstrating our national weakness. He needs to beware promising too much and achieving too little. Yet these reforms are needed - not because EU nationals are "scrounging" but because the availability of jobs, in-work benefits and easy access to public services are a magnet for people to join fellow nationals who have already settled here. Mr Cameron says his aim is to issue "a very clear signal" that the UK is not a soft touch. It is one that should have been sent out a long time ago.