Getty ImagesSenior ministers urged then-prime minister Tony Blair to delay granting employment rights to eastern and central European workers when the EU expanded in 2004, newly released files have revealed.
In February of that year, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw pointed out that the UK was alone among major EU members in offering “concessions”.
The concession meant that people from Poland and other EU countries would be able to work in the UK after May 1.
Almost all other major states would not allow it for two years: only Italy was undecided. Smaller EU countries, apart from Ireland, had work permit schemes that limited the number.
The National Archives papers – now released are 20 years old – show Straw proposed a six-month delay for Britain.
He said: “I believe we may face a very difficult situation at the beginning of May.”
He warned that the UK “could be forced to rescind the concession in the least favorable circumstances”.
His letter was copied to other senior ministers, and then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott supported Straw.
Prescott wrote that he was “deeply concerned” about the potential impact on social housing.
He was also worried that many workers would come to London and the South East, and “resort to sharing overcrowded accommodation in poor conditions” when they could not find decent accommodation.
Getty ImagesBut then Home Secretary David Blunkett argued that the economy needed the “flexibility and productivity” that these new workers could provide.
In 2004, eight Eastern and Central European countries, including Poland, joined the European Union. According to the government, The number of Polish nationals living in Britain increased from around 69,000 to 853,000 over the next decade.
Blair asked if Britain could have work permits, but instead the Home Office quickly developed a “workers’ registration scheme”.
The scheme required A8 workers – from the eight new member states – to pay a fee and register their employment in a specific job. Failure to do so will incur a significant penalty.
Since May 2004, Number 10 has monitored these registration numbers on a weekly basis.
The government was particularly worried because it had publicly estimated that only 13,000 new workers would come to the UK each year after EU enlargement.
The files show that Kate Gross, one of Number 10’s private secretaries, wrote to the prime minister on July 2, 2004.
He attached a briefing note to the press stating that “the influx of new arrivals predicted by the media did not materialize”, although the number had exceeded 13,000.
He explained that while 24,000 people had registered with the scheme, most were living in the UK before May 1.
Kate Gross’ memo notes that most were young, aged 18-34 – and found no evidence of them “exploiting the benefits system”. Blair scratched out “that’s the key” with the statement.
National ArchivesHowever, Kate Gross noted that “the main elephant trap is how these figures relate to the previous H.O. [Home Office] Estimates.”
If applications continue to grow, he wrote, the number of new arrivals “will reach 50-60,000 by May 2005.”
The next set of figures for the scheme showed a drop, and the briefing paper at No 10 said: “We seem to be peaking in applications.”
It said the Directorate of Immigration and Nationality “should be congratulated for implementing the Workers’ Registration Scheme in short order”.
The problem was that the scheme was not providing accurate records.
The self-employed were not required to register, for example, which excluded many building workers such as carpenters.
And there was little enforcement.
The shortcomings of the workers’ registration scheme came to light in late 2005, when according to the WRS there were only 95 Polish plumbers in the whole of the UK.
In 24 hours the Daily Mail found 95 Polish plumbers in London alone.
Over the next few years hundreds of thousands of A8 citizens, mostly Polish, moved to Britain.
Although many have now returned, according to the 2021 census there were 743,000 people of Polish origin living in the UK.