Senior Labour figures urged Tony Blair to delay arrival of EU citizens in UK
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Cabinet was split over east European countries joining in 2004, with some ‘extremely concerned’ by its implications. Senior figures in Tony Blair’s government, including John Prescott and Jack Straw, urged the then prime minister to delay opening the UK labour market to eastern European nationals shortly before they became EU citizens, newly released documents reveal.
Papers released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, showed Prescott and Straw warned of a surge in immigration unless some controls were put in place. But others – including the then home secretary, David Blunkett – argued that the economy needed the “flexibility and productivity of migrant labour” if it was to continue to prosper.
On 1 May 2004, 10 countries officially became EU member states, the majority of them former eastern bloc states that, at the time, had lower income levels compared with the rest of Europe. Nationals from those countries could work and live in Britain thanks to freedom of movement as soon as they became EU citizens. As the 1 May date approached, Blair’s cabinet appeared publicly supportive, but the papers suggest more fraught discussions behind the scenes.
Prescott and Straw, who were deputy prime minister and foreign secretary at the time, wrote to Blair in February 2004. They both urged him to consider pushing back the 1 May start date. The original 15 EU member states could impose restrictions, including annual limits and work permits, for up to seven years after the 10 new states joined the bloc.
