Defiant Blair says Britain has benefited from European immigration

Tony Blair has mounted a defence of his government’s decision to waive temporary controls and allow widespread immigration from Eastern Europe after the expansion of the EU a decade ago.

The former prime minister said economic migrants were a net gain for the economy as he explained why he did not use “transitional controls” to limit the amount of immigrants from Eastern European states as they joined the EU in 2004.

“Personally, I do not feel that the immigration from eastern Europe was a problem for Britain. I think those people contribute far more in taxes than they ever take in benefits. They’re hard-working people, they’re good members of our community. And the benefit of having eastern Europe in the EU is enormous,” he told Bloomberg TV.

The then Labour Government predicted 13,000 would move to Britain from Poland and other eastern European states, but ultimately resulted in hundred of thousands coming to the UK, with net migration peaking at 250,000 in 2010. Blair could have brought in regulations which would have delayed giving the right to work for new migrants for up to seven years.

UKIP in particular criticised the move, saying Labour did not anticipate the impacts on current workers in the UK and their communities.

Blair added that it would be “foolish” to leave the EU now, saying it would only add to economic insecurity.

“When you look at the polls, they’re pretty evenly matched. But my best instinct about this is that the country will do the sensible thing and stay in the EU.

“If we were to leave it would put a level of economic insecurity into the ordinary family household that I think most people would think is a foolish risk to take. But I have to say, I look at politics around the world these days and it’s in an unpredictable state.”

Blair’s intervention comes alongside pro-EU arguments from other major New Labour figures Alistair Darling and Peter Mandelson, both of whom warned of the dangers of Brexit yesterday.