EX-PM Tony Blair today stands accused of “wilfully forcing” mass immigration on Britain.
He pressed ahead with plans to grant unrestricted access to hundreds of thousands of migrants, newly-released files show.
And he did so despite calls from Labour Cabinet colleagues for delay over an anticipated Eastern European influx.
His deputy PM John Prescott and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw urged him to impose stricter controls amid concerns over a surge in numbers.
Mr Blair’s decision in 2004 allowed workers from new EU countries — mainly former Soviet states — to offer cheap labour and undercut British counterparts.
The move led to net migration reaching more than 200,000 a year as governments struggled to control numbers — with the figure hitting a high of 906,000 in the year ending June 2023.
Warnings were revealed in papers released to the National Archives, which are made public today.
Richard Tice, Reform deputy leader, last night said: “This just confirms what we all knew, mass immigration was wilfully forced upon the British people without anyone ever agreeing to it.
“Labour and the Tories have both been the architects of mass immigration and ignored any concerns along the way as these new documents show.
“Tony Blair and every Conservative leader since 2010 should be apologising for what they have done.
“Both Labour and the Tories can never be trusted ever again.”
Ex-Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said: “Blair is the original architect of mass migration.
“We are poorer for his disastrous experiment.”
POLICE failed to assess the kidnap risks of Prince Harry’s gap year trip to South America, newly-released National Archives documents show.
The Duke of Sussex, 40, was targeted while in Argentina in 2004.
The Government’s official group on security overseas had deemed the trip low risk.
Harry, then aged 20, flew home early after a local newspaper reported a plot to snatch the royal from a bar.
