GETTY Tony Blair has claimed mass migration has been good for Britain

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The Europhile former prime minister claimed the UK will be unable to defend itself from Islamic State (ISIS) and Russia without the help of France and Germany and said David Cameron should give up further influence to Brussels' growing security services. Describing the potential consequences of a Brexit as "very serious", the maligned Labour grandee warned it would be "irrational to be alone" when faced with competition from India, China and the US.

His comments came as the leave campaign opened up a huge six-point lead in the polls, with voters increasingly losing faith in Mr Cameron's ability to secure a good deal from European leaders. But Mr Blair, who is tipped as a future EU president, appeared to back the farcical negotiation even though he admitted he was "against" giving people a say on Britain's future in the first place.

GETTY Mr Blair also said Britain should surrender more powers to the EU

GETTY The former Prime Minister called the current refugee crisis a 'tragedy'

He said: "There are ways in which more integration would be advantageous, from security to energy, others in which our differences should be celebrated. "Europe must be integrated to protect its interests and values. Other countries in Latin America and Asia work together to have more influence. "From the economy to security only by standing together can we defend ourselves." The ex Prime-Minister, who was only prevented from introducing the euro to Britain by the intervention of then Chancellor Gordon Brown, has been a staunch advocate for the EU project in recent years as he eyes up a plum job on the Brussels gravy train.

GETTY Mr Blair said lessons have not been learnt from the Iraq war

GETTY David Cameron is trying to secure reforms from other European leaders

And speaking about the Prime Minister's beleaguered attempts to wrestle reforms from other European leaders, he said: "Cameron seems near to an agreement that would allow us to fight to stay in Europe. "The interests of the UK to stay in Europe should be clear to everyone. "The consequences of a Brexit would be very serious." In a wide-ranging interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica he also claimed that mass migration under his premiership, when more than three million mostly eastern European people moved to Britain to live, has been "good" for the country.

More recent Labour leaders have admitted that the party got it wrong by failing to acknowledge people's fears about immigration, culminating in Mr Brown calling a voter a "bigot" for raising the topic. Describing the current refugee crisis as a "tragedy" an unrepentant Mr Blair said: "There are three types of immigration. "The economic one is shown to be good, with appropriate rules, that has been seen in the US as in Britain. "Then, the issue of refugees. Europe must open the door, for moral reasons, to those who flee from persecution. "But we have to check the third type of immigration.We must be wary that extremists are not hiding among those fleeing."