Tony Blair’s ‘spectacular mistake’ on migration revealed in newly released documents

Tony Blair threw open Britain’s borders to millions of migrants to inflate economic figures, shocking Government records have revealed.

The former Prime Minister in 2004 granted eastern Europeans unrestricted access to the UK labour market despite concern from some of his top ministers.

Government records released on Tuesday revealed former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott warned Sir Tony of a surge in immigration unless controls were put in place.

They wanted work permits to be introduced but former Home Secretary David Blunkett – and the Treasury – insisted “there can be no doubt that our present policy is the right one.”

Mr Straw has subsequently described the decision not to impose restrictions on migrants from Poland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Slovenia – known as the A8 – as a “spectacular mistake”.

He said: “One spectacular mistake in which I participated (not alone) was in lifting the transitional restrictions on the eastern European states like Poland and Hungary which joined the EU in mid-2004.

“We thought that it would be good for Britain if these folk could come and work here from 2004.

“Thorough research by the Home Office suggested that the impact of this benevolence would in any event be ‘relatively small, at between 5,000 and 13,000 immigrants per year up to 2010’.

“Events proved these forecasts worthless. Net migration reached close to a quarter of a million at its peak in 2010. Lots of red faces, mine included.”

Critics accused Mr Blair of “running a concealed policy of open borders” to “rig the economic numbers”, adding that Labour has always been “open border fanatics.”

Sir David Davis, who was Shadow Home Secretary at the time of the disastrous decision, told the Daily Express: “As we said at the time, Labour were running a concealed policy of open borders in order to rig the economic numbers.

“What this disclosure reveals is that we were right all along and that the House of Commons was being misled by the Government of the day.”

Asked if he was surprised Jack Straw and John Prescott pushed back on the plans, Sir David said: “Jack Straw was a very sensible Home Secretary of his day and one of the few who was willing to speak his mind.

“That’s why he got demoted. I’m completely unsurprised that someone as straightforward as Jack Straw made that point. Ditto John Prescott. It is notable that two people who were not afraid of Blair stood up to him and told him the truth.

“The rest of his Cabinet buckled down.

“The impact has been an enormous increase in immigration, which led British industry to stop investing in labour saving devices and to go for cheap labour.

“That, in due course, meant we became addicted to cheap labour and immigration, which we are now.”

Labour relied on research suggesting 13,000 migrants a year would arrive.

But the influx was much larger than expected and contributed to net migration rising above 200,000 a year.

Almost every EU state, apart from Ireland and Sweden, prevented migrants from working for seven years.

But the then Labour government did not impose any transitional controls.

Newly published Government records reveal former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told Sir Tony: “If we do not think this through now, I believe we could be faced with a very difficult situation in early May, and could then be forced to take urgent action to suspend the concessions, in the least propitious of circumstances.

“In particular, whilst some EU member states were never going to give this concession, other EU member states who we thought would be joining us have begun to peel away.

“France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece and Luxembourg are all imposing transition periods of at least two years. Portugal is likely to follow suit.

“Italy is undecided. Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark – who were with us – have all announced the introduction of work and/or residence permits for those wishing to avail themselves of the concession.”

He was backed by Mr Prescott who said he was “extremely concerned” about the pressures on social housing from a sudden influx of new migrants.

However former Home Secretary David Blunkett Blunkett, backed by work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith and the Treasury, insisted they should stick with the plan.

“On purely technical, economic grounds there can be no doubt that our present policy is the right one,” he wrote.

“Our economy needs the flexibility and productivity of migrant labour which is a key part of our continued economic success.”

He said that they would be tightening the regulations to stop migrants travelling to the UK simply to claim benefits but rejected calls for a work permit scheme as “not only expensive and bureaucratic but I believe ineffective”.

“I fear we would only be storing up more deep-seated political difficulties in the very near future and closer to the general election. The ineffectiveness of any scheme would be quickly exposed,” he said.

Mr Blair seemingly began to have doubts, questioning whether tougher benefit rules on their own would be enough.

“Are we sure this does the trick? I don’t want to have to return to it,” he said in a handwritten note.

“I am not sure we shouldn’t have a work permits approach also. Why not? It gives us an extra string to our bow.”

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express: “Labour’s instincts are always for open borders. That was as true under Blair as it is today. Starmer himself described immigration laws as ‘racist’ and campaigned to keep dangerous foreign criminals in the UK – putting the human rights of criminals ahead of protecting the British public.

“The leopard won’t change its spots. Labour won’t ever control our borders because they don’t want to. I will be holding them publicly to account for this and making plans for a very different approach when we are able to kick them out.

“This shows that Labour are – and always have been – open border fanatics.”

Former Immigration minister Kevin Foster told the Express: “Tony Blair ignored all warnings and it was only when millions applied to the EU Settlement Scheme that we saw just what this meant in terms of migration into the UK.

“The Treasury has for decades advocated migration as an alternative to investment in skills and training our economy needs.

“It’s why we need to rethink how we link migration and skills policies in a coherent labour market strategy, not see migration as an alternative to it.”

Reform UK Deputy Leader, MP said: “This just confirms what we all knew. Mass immigration was wilfully forced upon the British people without anyone ever agreeing to it.

“Labour and the have both been the architects of mass immigration which has caused huge damage by making people poorer and public services worse; they ignored any concerns along the way as these new documents show.

“Tony Blair and every Conservative leader since 2010 should be apologising for what they have done. Both Labour and the can never be trusted ever again.”