Posted on 04/27/2004 5:37:14 PM PDT by blam
Blair is reacting in 'blind panic on migrants'
By George Jones, Political Editor
(Filed: 28/04/2004)
The Tories accused Tony Blair last night of reacting in "blind panic" to growing public concern over immigration and asylum by promising a top-to-bottom review to tackle abuses of the system.
With his leadership under the most sustained attack since he became Prime Minister, Mr Blair acknowledged that the country had reached "a crunch point" on immigration, with an expected influx of migrants from 10 countries joining the EU on Saturday.
Although he denied that the Government had lost control, he adopted a more conciliatory tone to critics of its immigration and asylum policies. He said that public worries about immigration were at the highest level since the 1970s. Such concerns were real, not "figments of racist imagination".
The Prime Minister was speaking less than a month after Beverley Hughes resigned as the immigration minister because of the row over lax Home Office supervision of visa applications from Romania and Bulgaria.
Since then Mr Blair has been buffeted by controversy over his stance on Iraq and the Middle East and a backlash in the Labour Party over his about-turn on holding a referendum on a draft European constitution.
The Conservatives sought to capitalise on his troubles by launching a poster campaign accusing him of failing to fulfil his key election pledges.
Michael Howard, the Tory leader, said Mr Blair was acting out of "blind panic" on immigration. "You could not have a better example of how the Government has let us down than on immigration," he said.
David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said the public had "zero confidence" in the Government's ability to tackle the issue. With four days to go to EU enlargement, it was "too little too late".
Mr Blair's speech was an attempt to neutralise one of the potentially most difficult issues for Labour in the approach to local and European elections on June 10. Labour MPs have warned the leadership that the far-Right British National Party could exploit public worries over immigration and asylum.
Addressing business leaders, Mr Blair tried to strike a balanced approach, emphasising the importance to the economy of migrant workers. He said that public services such as the NHS would collapse without them.
But he acknowledged that public concern that the system was wide open to abuse was damaging the Government. "There are real, not imagined, abuses of the system that lead to a sense of genuine unfairness," Mr Blair said.
In a reference to public anger over the failure so far to deport Abu Hamza, the radical Muslim cleric, he said: "There are high-profile examples of the absurd - not many in number but very damaging in terms of impact - like radical clerics coming here to preach religious hate; people staying here to peddle support for terrorism.
"The combination of all these things, with the reporting of them not exactly calculated to douse the flames of concern, lead to a crunch point. That is where we are now."
Mr Blair said the Government had embarked on a top-to-bottom analysis of the immigration system. Tighter rules were being introduced to restrict the access of migrants from the new EU countries to benefits and council housing.
"No one will be able to come to the UK from anywhere in the enlarged EU simply to claim benefits or housing," he said. A "pay taxes and pay your way" approach would apply.
"Whether they come to work in our hospitals or in our banks, they must be self-sufficient," he said. Mr Blair made clear that he had taken personal charge of the immigration and asylum policy by holding regular reviews at No 10.
The Government was seeking to close loopholes. From the end of the year students from overseas would be allowed in only if they went to accredited colleges and universities. Registrars were being given greater powers to prevent bogus marriages.
Mr Blair strongly backed David Blunkett's proposals for a national identity card. It was "perhaps the most important significant new measure on the horizon" for tackling immigration abuses, he said.
Yup. Why would anyone want all that hassle?
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