Tony Blair has insisted immigration has been good for Britain as he again suggested there should be a second EU referendum.

The former prime minister, who oversaw a massive influx to the UK from new EU states, said 'all the evidence' indicated migrants contributed more in taxes and brought 'fresh energy'.

But he did admit that some communities had been 'deeply affected' by the numbers of arrivals and had 'legitimate concerns'.

Tony Blair said immigration had been 'good' for Britain although he stressed that some people had 'legitimate concerns'

Mr Blair's comments came on the eve of the latest immigration figures - the first since the historic Brexit vote on June 23.

The previous set of official statistics in May showed net migration to the UK rising to a near-record 333,000. Some 184,000 came from the EU.

The lack of control over borders due to free movement rules within the Brussels club was one of the defining issues of the referendum campaign.

In an interview with the Politico website, Mr Blair - who was PM between 1997 and 2007 - said there was a need for 'rules and not prejudices'.

He said there were 'sensible' anxieties about lack of control over immigration and some communities were 'affected much more deeply than others'.

But he added: 'Actually, immigration is good for a country. It brings fresh energy. It lowers the age of the work force.

'All the evidence here, for example, in Britain, is that migrants, particularly from the rest of Europe, who come here contribute far more in taxes.'

Mr Blair highlighted the populist campaigns run by Donald Trump in the US and Marine Le Pen in France.

'The question for us, though, is: How do we meet people’s genuine concerns whilst differentiating ourselves from that prejudice?' he added.

The ex-premier also admitted that he had been humbled by his failure to predict the Brexit vote in the referendum, and veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn taking control of the Labour Party.

ONS figures from May showed the government has struggled to bring net annual migration anywhere near its target of below 100,000

'There were times when I was growing up in politics and when I was prime minister, when I had complete confidence in my own ability, just as a professional, to predict the course of politics,' Mr Blair said.

'You know, the last few years have caused me to question ... to what degree is this driven by a genuine change in the way the world is working and to what degree is it a product of the way politics works today, of people’s dissatisfaction with institutions, of the revolutionary impact of social media.'

Asked whether he thought that his 'era' of centrist politics was over, Mr Blair said: 'I believe it isn’t, but, you know, when you take Brexit or you take Trump, [Bernie] Sanders in the U.S., or you take Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party you’ve got to say, ‘Well, if you’d told me in 2007 that that was likely, I would have said no, that’s not likely at all.’

'And I would have said that with a fair degree of confidence.'