'SPECTACULAR MISTAKE TO OPEN BORDERS

Records reveal ex-PM Blair gave unrestricted access to EU migrants despite warnings

- Michael Knowles

TONY Blair threw open UK borders to millions of migrants to boost the economy despite his ministers advising him against it.

In 2004, the former PM granted eastern Europeans unrestricted access to the British labour markets.

Government records released today show that former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Deputy PM John Prescott warned Sir Tony of a surge in immigration unless controls were put in place.

They wanted work permits to be introduced but the Treasury and ex-Home Secretary David Blunkett backed the policy. Mr Straw later described the decision as a major error.

He admitted: "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.

"We thought that it would be good for Britain if these folk could come and work here from 2004.

"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." Critics have accused Sir Tony of "running a concealed policy of open borders" to "rig the economic numbers", adding that Labour have always been "open border fanatics".