A spectacular mistake on immigration: Straw finally admits Labour 'messed up' by letting in one million East Europeans

Former Home Secretary said the party's 2004 decision to hand immediate working rights to migrants from other EU states was a mistake

Admission in his local paper is furthest any Labour minister has gone



His successor David Blunkett also warned Roma migrants could cause riots

Government had predicted influx of 13,000 a year - 1m came in a decade



Mistake: Former Home Secretary says the 2004 decision was 'well-intentioned' but 'messed up'

Jack Straw has admitted that throwing open Britain’s borders to Eastern European migrants was a ‘spectacular mistake’.

The former Home Secretary said Labour’s 2004 decision to hand immediate working rights to Poles and migrants from other new EU states was a ‘well-intentioned policy we messed up’.

His comments emerged on the same day as his successor as Home Secretary, David Blunkett, warned that the influx of Roma migrants into Britain risked causing riots.

Mr Blunkett’s comments reinforced the significance of Mr Straw’s admission about Labour’s failure to anticipate the scale of migration when eight former Soviet bloc nations became EU members, and Britain – almost alone in Europe – allowed the free movement of workers between countries.

At the time, the Government predicted up to 13,000 migrants would come to Britain each year. The actual total over nearly a decade was more than a million.

Virtually every other EU state, apart from Ireland and Sweden, kept their jobs markets closed for the seven years permitted.



In an article for his local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph, Mr Straw – who is MP for Blackburn – admitted the forecasts were ‘worthless’.



And he accepted the ‘social dislocation’ which can be caused when ‘large numbers of people from abroad settle in a particular area’.

Mr Straw 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.

‘Other existing EU members, notably France and Germany, decided to stick to the general rule which prevented migrants from these new states from working until 2011.



'But we thought that it would be good for Britain if these folk could come and work here from 2004.



Not alone: Mr Straw's successor David Blunkett (left) has also spoken out about problems caused by immigration, warning that Roma migrants could cause riots. Ukip leader Nigel Farage (right) applauded him



It is estimated that more than 700,000 people from Romania could try to find work and settle in Britain

‘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.’



Also critical: Last year Ed Miliband said Labour's policy left communities 'struggling to cope'

His comments are the furthest any senior Labour figure has gone in accepting the party made serious errors in immigration policy during its time in power.



Mr Blunkett told the BBC that Roma groups from Slovakia who had settled in a district of Sheffield were behaving like they were living in a ‘downtrodden village or woodland’ where there were no toilets or litter collections.



They were dumping rubbish on the streets, loitering late at night and causing ‘friction’ with residents, he added. The tensions have prompted existing residents of the Page Hall area to set up street patrols to try to combat the anti-social behaviour.



Since 2004, several hundred Roma families have settled in the area, many with eight children or more.



Mr Blunkett said: ‘We have got to change the behaviour and the culture of the incoming Roma community – because there’s going to be an explosion otherwise.



'We have got to be tough and robust in saying to people, “you are not living in a downtrodden village or woodland” – because many of them don’t live in areas where there are toilets or refuse collection facilities.’



Mr Blunkett said the ‘understandable tensions’ between different groups could lead to a repeat of the 2001 riots in Oldham and Bradford.



'If everything exploded, if things went wrong, the community would obviously be devastated. We saw this in Bradford, Burnley and Oldham all those years ago when I first became Home Secretary.’



Back track: Mr Straw wrote in his local newspaper that the decision was made based on data showing 5,000 to 13,000 migrants a year would come to Britain. 'Events proved these forecasts worthless'.

Tough: Support for the Labour party hit a three-year low in 2004 following the immigration announcement

Mr Blunkett’s comments were welcomed by Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who said they reinforced the need for a re-think over the dropping of similar border controls with Romania and Bulgaria on January 1 next year.



Immigration campaigners have predicted the arrival of up to 50,000 people a year as a result of ending the transitional controls over nationals from the two countries. Romania has one of the largest Roma populations in Europe, with an estimated two million living there.



Last year Ed Miliband was criticised for dropping an admission that Labour’s policy had left communities across Britain ‘struggling to cope’. In advance of a speech in December, his spin doctors suggested he would admit that the party’s failures on immigration had damaged Britain and increased community tensions.





'The Home Office suggested the impact would be relatively small... between 5,000 and 13,000 migrants a years. Events proved these forecasts worthless' - Jack Straw in his local newspaper



He had been expected to say: ‘We did too little to tackle the realities of segregation in communities that were struggling to cope.’ But the admission was dropped in favour of a vague acknowledgment that the party had made ‘mistakes’.



Mr Straw’s comments will prompt further calls for Labour to apologise for its failure on immigration.



Mr Farage said: ‘Mr Blunkett should be admired for the courage he has shown by speaking so plainly.



‘The fact that he is talking of the significant difficulties with the Roma population already in his constituency should be taken seriously by the likes of Cameron, Clegg and Miliband.



'My question is if they won’t listen to the dangers of opening the door to Romania and Bulgaria next year when Ukip speak out on it, will they listen to David Blunkett?’

