Blair is still in denial about the mass-migration emergency

He now admits that free movement put ‘real strains’ on our society, but accepts no blame for today’s crisis

Why hello there, Sir Tony – it’s good of you to pop up! Last I heard, you were swanking around the coast of Sardinia on board a billionaire’s superyacht. Such is the lifestyle to which you’ve become accustomed since you left Downing Street: a world of private jets, A-list parties and multi-million pound fees paid to your firm by questionable regimes. Having quit front-line politics 17 years ago, you turned your back on the UK, in favour of gadding about with the global elite.
Unfortunately, the rest of us are stuck here in broken Britain, living with your legacy – in particular, the cataclysmic consequences of your immigration policy. The country you led for 10 years is falling apart – and the crisis can be traced directly back to you. For it was you who opened the floodgates to mass immigration from eastern Europe in 2004 – hopelessly underestimating how many would head for the UK. Our country is paying a terrible price for that reckless miscalculation, and for the “open doors” approach towards immigration you initiated.
Naturally, the man who led the Labour Party to three successive general election victories does not see it this way. Speaking to the BBC this week, Sir Tony went some way towards acknowledging the downsides of mass migration, admitting that the “big influx” of overseas nationals during his premiership put “real strains” on communities. Adopting his familiar old “oh-so reasonable” tone, he grudgingly accepted that the huge numbers that arrived after his decision not to limit free movement of people from impoverished new EU member states caused some “problems”.
However, the former prime minister remains adamant that he did the right thing. He continues to claim that drafting in foreign nationals to fill jobs British people don’t want to do (an approach that drove a five-fold increase in net migration during his premiership) “helped our economy” and that extra people were “needed”.
This is the dangerous mantra he established in the Labour Party all those years ago – and it has never gone away. As millions of physically fit and able British citizens languish on benefits, a new generation of Labour MPs continue to spout similar nonsense about the UK “needing” more foreign workers. None of these people will acknowledge the terrible consequences for public services which have not expanded in line with our ballooning population, leading to desperate housing shortages, overcrowded classrooms, and a collapsing NHS.
There may be an explanation for Blair’s breathtaking level of denial – he spends very little time in this country. When he does grace us with his presence, he doesn’t grub around in the areas hardest hit by the long-term consequences of his decisions. Just an hour or two walking the streets of Derby, Leeds, Boston, Peterborough and any number of other towns and cities blighted by the loss of control of our borders might just give him pause for more sober reflection about the choices he made.
You see, back in 2004, when the EU welcomed 10 new member countries, adding 74 million people to the bloc, he and his government had the right to limit free movement from the new entrants for up to seven years. This vital provision of the 2003 Accession Treaty was designed to mitigate potential disruption to domestic labour markets from the anticipated influx of new workers. The UK was one of just three member states that chose not to impose transitional controls.
Blair’s decision unleashed one of the most significant peacetime migrations in European history. At the time, the then home secretary David Blunkett said there was “no obvious limit” to how many would come – and so it proved. Within a year, some 100,000 eastern Europeans flooded in. By 2013, the figure was more than a million. At the same time, Blair opened the doors to a vast number of immigrants from outside the EU by making it much easier for overseas nationals to obtain work visas. In a pattern that has continued to this day, they were also allowed to bring dependants.
Blair is correct that many, if not most, of those who arrived on his watch made a positive contribution to the economy, increasing the supply of skilled labour. They integrated well, which is why there was not a bitter public backlash at the time. Unfortunately, that part of the pattern did not continue. We are now overwhelmed by many who do not work and have not integrated.
The “strains” to which he dismissively refers have become breaking points. Thanks a lot!