Budapest  - The Hungarian foreign ministry issued a "Warning to those who want to work in Great Britain" Thursday, urging them to think twice about going there to escape the deepening recession at home. The British embassy in the capital, Budapest, was not amused.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lajos Szelestey, sent a statement to the Hungarian state news agency MTI urging Hungarians to think long and hard before travelling to Britain despite the "serious economic situation."

Would-be economic migrants were warned that Britain was "more sensitive to the effects of the economic crisis" than other EU members.

"The number of jobs is falling drastically and the unemployment rate is twice the EU average," Hungarians were warned. Furthermore, on more than one occasion "large companies have laid off several thousands of workers from one day to the next."

The British embassy in Budapest responded tersely with a counter- statement: "It is for the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to decide what to communicate to its citizens and in what form.

"However the British Embassy does not believe that the... statement of March 12 gives Hungarian citizens a fair impression of labour market conditions in UK."

The embassy noted that Britain was among the first to welcome Hungarians and other citizens of countries that joined the EU in 2004, and it disputed the Hungarian ministry's bleak statistics.

While acknowledging that the British economy was in recession and unemployment was rising, the embassy challenged the claim it was suffering more than other EU members. Unemployment in Britain was "actually below the EU average of seven per cent."

The embassy concluded by saying that Britain is still the world's fourth-largest economy, and there were "excellent opportunities" for workers with "the right skills." (dpa)