Tony Blair’s Labour government pushed on with plans to open the UK’s borders to Eastern Europe despite mounting concerns from senior ministers, according to newly released official files.
The former prime minister relaxed immigration controls in 2004 after eight mainly former Soviet states, including Poland, Lithuania and Hungary, joined the EU.
Papers given to the National Archives in London show then deputy PM John Prescott and foreign secretary Jack Straw both urged delay to the policy, warning of a surge in immigration unless some restrictions were put in place.
But others – including then home secretary David Blunkett – argued that the economy needed the “flexibility and productivity of migrant labour” if it was to continue to prosper.
The records emerged as part of a yearly release of Cabinet Office files once they are 20 years old.
The papers also show:
Ministers in Blair’s government were advised to use post-it notes for sensitive messages to avoid having to release them under new Freedom of Information laws, which they had passed.
A senior US official warned the British ambassador to the US that George W Bush believed he was on a “mission from God” to crush Iraqi insurgents and had to be given a “dose of reality”.
Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi felt like a “jilted lover” after being shut out of talks between Blair and the leaders of France and Germany.
Former prime minister Sir John Major privately wrote to Blair urging him to order England’s cricket team not to compete in a “morally repugnant” tour in Zimbabwe amid concerns about its human rights record under Robert Mugabe.
Image: Then foreign secretary Jack Straw had reservations about the plan
Calls for open borders re-think
The Blair government’s open borders policy is seen as having helped fuel anti-EU sentiment by the time of the Brexit referendum in 2016.
There was a major increase in immigration in the years that followed, with net migration rising to more than 200,000 a year and cheaper foreign labour blamed for undercutting local workers.
In 2013, Mr Straw admitted that the failure to put in place any transitional controls – as nearly all other EU nations had done – had been a “spectacular mistake” which had far-reaching consequences.
According to the Cabinet papers, the Home Office had predicted the impact of allowing unrestricted access to the UK jobs market for the new countries would be relatively limited – but within weeks the numbers arriving were far outstripping previous estimates.
Three months before the policy was due to be implemented, Mr Straw wrote to Mr Blair calling for a re-think, warning that other countries “who we thought would be joining us have begun to peel away”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:26
Sir Tony Blair on leadership
“France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece and Luxembourg are all imposing transition periods of at least two years. Portugal is likely to follow suit,” he wrote.
“Italy is undecided. Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark – who were with us – have all announced the introduction of work and/or residence permits for those wishing to avail themselves of the concession.”
He was backed by Mr Prescott who said he was “extremely concerned” about the pressures on social housing from a sudden influx of new migrants.
However Mr Blunkett, backed by work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith and the Treasury, insisted they should stick with the plan on “economic grounds”.
Image: Then Home Secretary David Blunkett backed the policy
He said that they would be tightening the regulations to stop migrants travelling to the UK simply to claim benefits but rejected calls for a work permit scheme as “not only expensive and bureaucratic but I believe ineffective”.
Mr Blair appeared to also express doubts, questioning whether tougher benefit rules on their own would be enough.
“Are we sure this does the trick? I don’t want to have to return to it,” he said in a handwritten note.
“I am not sure we shouldn’t have a work permits approach also. Why not? It gives us an extra string to our bow.”
Mr Blair also stressed the need to send out a deterrent “message” about benefits, writing in a note: “We must do the toughest package on benefits possible & announce this plus power to revoke visa plan and message to Romas.”
Bush ‘on mission from God’ in Iraq
Elsewhere in the Cabinet files, there was a record of frank conversations between Richard Armitage, the US deputy Secretary of State, and Britain’s ambassador to the US at the time, Sir David Manning, about the Iraq War.
In one meeting, Mr Armitage dismissed claims by the US commander in Iraq that he could put down a major uprising in the city of Fallujah within days as “bulls**t” and “politically crass”, and appealed for Mr Blair to use his influence with Mr Bush to persuade him there needed to be a wider “political process” if order was to be restored.
Image: Tony Blair with George Bush
In another meeting, Mr Armitage spoke of President Bush being faced with a “dose of reality” about the conflict.
Sir David reported: “Rich summed it all up by saying that Bush still thought he was on some sort of a mission from God, but that recent events had made him ‘rather more sober’.”
Italian PM felt like ‘jilted lover’
Other papers described a fall-out with Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi after he was excluded from a trilateral summit of the UK, France and Germany.
He is said to have been “hurt” because unlike the other two nations he had backed Britain and the US over the invasion of Iraq, and threatened to challenge Britain’s EU rebate at every opportunity as a result.
In a report of a meeting between Britain’s ambassador to Rome, Sir Ivor Roberts, and Mr Berlusconi’s foreign affairs adviser, Giovanni Castellaneta, Sir Ivor wrote: “The gist of what he had to say was that Berlusconi was feeling badly let down by the prime minister.
Image: Tony Blair with Silvio Berlusconi inside number 10 Downing Street.
“He actually used the image of a jilted lover (very Berlusconi) and added that there was something of the southern Italian about Berlusconi which made him quite vindictive when he thought his affections had been misplaced or betrayed.
“The word ‘tradito’ (betrayed) came up quite often.”
The row even came up during a video conference between Mr Blair and Mr Bush the following week, with the US president expressing “some concern in a jokey way, on Berlusconi’s behalf, over Italy’s exclusion”, according to a Downing Street note of the call.
In the face of such concerns, Mr Blair felt it necessary to travel to Rome to personally placate the unhappy premier and assure him of his continuing support.
John Major’s Zimbabwe intervention
The papers also revealed that former Conservative prime minister John Major – who preceded Mr Blair – privately wrote to his successor to urge him to “indemnify” English cricket for any financial losses if it was sanctioned for pulling out of a controversial tour of Zimbabwe.
Sir John, a noted cricket fan, said the tour was “morally repugnant” given Robert Mugabe’s human rights record, but pointed out that “draconian” rules by the world game’s governing body (ICC) imposed penalties on countries for cancelling – putting English cricket at risk of bankruptcy.
The letter came after Mr Blair had told MPs that in his “personal opinion” the tour should be abandoned, but it would “step over the proper line” for ministers to issue an instruction
Image: Sir John Major
Mr Major said if the government “expresses a view” that the tour should not go ahead – or there was a vote in parliament to that effect – then it would be “very difficult” for the ICC to penalise England.
And in the “very unlikely circumstances” that it were to do so, he said the government should indemnify the ICC for any financial losses.
“I daresay the Treasury would hate this, but the blunt truth is that the government could not let English cricket go to the wall because of a refusal to intervene,” Mr Major wrote.
The tour ultimately went ahead.
Ministers urged to communicate in post-it notes
Meanwhile, other papers revealed that ministers in Blair’s government were advised to use post-it notes for sensitive messages to avoid having to release them under the new Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.
The Labour government had passed the bill in 2000, which requires public bodies to disclose information requested by the public, but as its full implementation date crept up in 2005 there was growing disquiet about its implications.
One No 10 adviser wrote to Mr Blair suggesting post-it notes – which could presumably then be thrown away once the message had been read – as a way of getting round the requirement to disclose official material in response to FoI requests.
The son of former England footballer Stuart Pearce has died in a crash, his family has said.
Harley Pearce, from Marlborough in Wiltshire, was driving a tractor near Witcombe, Gloucestershire, on Thursday, when he was involved in a collision, police said.
The 21-year-old farming worker died at the scene, on the A417 Old Birdlip Hill in Witcombe, around five miles from Gloucester.
No other vehicles were involved, Gloucestershire Constabulary said. Emergency services were called to the scene of the incident at about 2.30pm on October 16.
Image: Stuart Pearce at last year’s FA Cup Final at Wembley. Pic: PA
Harley Pearce was 21 and worked in farming, according to reports.
‘Our shining star’
In a tribute posted on Facebook, Harley sister, Chelsea Pearce, said the family was “truly shocked and utterly heartbroken at the loss of our cherished son and devoted brother, Harley”.
He was, the family said, was a soul “who left an unforgettable imprint on all who knew him”.
“He was a golden boy with an infectious smile, and this shocking tragedy will leave a huge hole in the hearts of those who were fortunate enough to have known him.”
He had “a quiet, understated strength and deep kindness”.
The family said they were “so proud of the young man he had become, exhibiting a wonderful work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit in the farming industry.
“He will always be our shining star. Rest in Peace, our beautiful son and brother. You will never, ever be forgotten.”
What have police said?
Harley ran his own company, Harley Pearce Agricultural Service, talkSPORT said.
Gloucestershire Constabulary said on Thursday: “The driver of the tractor, a man in his 20s and from Wiltshire, was pronounced dead at the scene.
“His next of kin are aware and being supported by specially trained officers.”
The force is appealing for any witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to contact them.
‘Tragic news’
Harley’s father, Stuart Pearce, played 78 times for England and was part of the Three Lions squads which reached the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96, the FA said on its website.
He was later the head coach of the England Under-21s.
During a long club career, he made more than 400 appearances for Nottingham Forest, many of them as captain, during a 12-year spell at the City Ground.
He later managed the club, as well as another former club, Manchester City.
Pearce currently works as a pundit on talkSPORT, which said on its website that Harley and Chelsea were the two children he had with his ex-wife Liz.
Presenter Jim White said during a broadcast on Monday that “everybody here on this show and at talkSPORT sends our heartfelt condolences to the family of Stuart Pearce after that tragic news we’ve just heard”.
After years of campaigning, bereaved families in Leeds have been told they will get a fully independent inquiry into local maternity services.
The inquiry was announced by Health Secretary Wes Streeting who said he was “shocked” that the families faced “repeated maternity failures… made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust”.
Despite running one of the largest teaching hospitals in Europe, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust “remains an outlier on perinatal mortality”, according to official data.
Image: Leeds was downgraded to “inadequate” in June by the Care Quality Commission, over serious risks to women and babies
Grieving families have welcomed the launch of the inquiry.
In 2023, an inquest concluded Fiona Winser-Ramm and Daniel Ramm’s first baby, Aliona, died in 2020 as a result of neglect from medical staff.
“When after our daughter died, we were told that they had never seen anything like it before. And we believed it initially,” said Ms Winser-Ramm.
Image: Fiona Winser-Ramm’s baby died in 2020 after failings by staff
“We believed that we were the first people, the only people that this had ever happened to. And in the depths of our despair and grief, we needed to find other people that understood this, that were the same as us,” she added.
More on Leeds
Related Topics:
Mr Ramm said the inquiry had been “a long time coming”.
“We have, as a group of families, spent years trying to essentially expose what the problems have been at least that we’ve known have existed all along,” he said.
Image: Daniel Ramm says the inquiry has been ‘a long time coming’
Lauren Caulfield’s baby Grace was stillborn in 2022 and an investigation found failings in her care.
“We shouldn’t… as bereaved, grieving parents have to do this [campaigning] for so many years. [It’s] quite a relief to know that, you know, we don’t have to keep fighting,” she said.
Image: Bereaved parent Lauren Caulfield is relieved, saying ‘we don’t have to keep fighting’
Mr Streeting said: “This stark contradiction between scale and safety standards is precisely why I’m taking this exceptional step to order an urgent inquiry in Leeds.
“We have to give the families the honesty and accountability they deserve and end the normalisation of deaths of women and babies in maternity units.
“These are people who, at a moment of great vulnerability, placed their lives and the lives of their unborn children in the hands of others – and instead of being supported and cared for, found themselves victims.”
Brendan Brown, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “I want to start by offering the families an unreserved apology, not only for their experience, but also for the fight that they’ve had in raising these concerns.
“And I want to assure them of our commitment to engage with the independent inquiry openly, honestly and transparently.”
Image: Chief executive of the Trust, Brendan Brown, has offered families an unreserved apology
The families are waiting for the terms of reference of the investigation to be confirmed, but feel the police should be involved.
They also called for it to be chaired by midwife Donna Ockenden, who is heading the independent review of maternity services at the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Leeds now joins a growing list: Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury, East Kent, and the ongoing Nottingham inquiry, all uncovering shocking failures in maternity care across England.
The King has visited the scene of a fatal attack at a synagogue in Manchester.
The monarch was greeted by Rabbi Daniel Walker when he arrived at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.
He spent a few minutes at an outside memorial area next to the synagogue, where flowers and messages have been left by those paying their respects.
Image: Rabbi Daniel Walker and the King
Image: Pics: PA
It was the King’s first official engagement since Prince Andrew‘s decision to relinquish his titles under intense public scrutiny following allegations he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre. The prince vehemently denies the allegations.
Andrew also faces the Metropolitan Police looking into reports he asked an officer to help with an attempted smear campaign against Ms Giuffre.
Image: Pics: PA
During the attack at the Manchester synagogue on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, father-of-three Melvin Cravitz, 66, was killed, along with Adrian Daulby.
Mr Daulby, 53, was believed to have been inadvertently shot by police as he ran to block the synagogue doors to stop the attacker getting inside to continue his knife rampage.
Image: (L-R) Victims Adrian Daulby and and Melvin Cravitz. Pics: Family handout/Greater Manchester Police
He drove his car at Jews gathering at the Heaton Park Hebrew Synagogue for the holy day of Yom Kippur, then attacked others with a knife and tried to storm the synagogue, wearing a fake suicide belt, before armed police shot him dead.
Last week, Yoni Finlay, who is believed to have been hit by a police bullet during the attack and underwent seven hours of surgery, was discharged from hospital.
He reportedly helped barricade the doors at the synagogue.
Greater Manchester Police said two other men injured in the attack, a security guard who was hurt when the attacker rammed his car outside the synagogue and a volunteer who was stabbed, remain in stable conditions.