article_snippet: One ex-Cabinet minister said One ex-Cabinet minister had warned the influx was having a huge impact on hospitals and wages - but was largely ignored by One ex-Cabinet minister colleagues.
article_snippet: In comments which will pose a huge headache for Ed Miliband, Sir Stephen also admitted the decision to throw open Britain’s borders at a time when other countries were imposing transitional controls was ‘political’.
article_snippet: The remarks risk re-igniting the debate about Labour’s record – for which the Labour leader recently apologised.
article_snippet: Sir Stephen said: ‘The primary argument was the political one –
article_snippet: Yesterday, it also emerged that ex-Labour Cabinet minister John Denham had written to Chancellor Gordon Brown and Home Secretary Charles Clarke to warn the new arrivals were having a huge impact.
article_snippet: ex-Labour Cabinet minister John Denham said the Government failed to recognise what was happening in constituencies like ex-Labour Cabinet minister John Denham own in Southampton, where wages were driven down by as much as 50 per cent, A&E departments came under strain and 1,000 migrants attempted to sign up for an English-as-a-second language course in a single day.
article_snippet: ex-Labour Cabinet minister John Denham added: ‘The whole irony of this is that in some respects Tony Blair was obsessed by immigration, particularly about illegal immigration and abuse of the asylum system, but on EU migration there was a catastrophic failure of the civil service machine.
article_snippet: In further bombshell remarks, the respected economist Paul Ormerod, writing in the Left-wing Guardian newspaper, exploded Labour’s economic case for mass migration.
article_snippet: ex-Labour Cabinet minister John Denham said: ‘New Labour allowed direct competition to enter the UK labour market on a scale unprecedented in our history…
article_snippet: Former Home Secretary David Blunkett (pictured) has defended Labour's record on mass migration, saying Former Home Secretary David Blunkett (pictured) is 'confident' it was the right policy, 'even though very few people now will stand up for the right policy'
article_snippet: But two more Home Secretaries from the New Labour years were unrepentant about the party’s record, despite the fact Ed Miliband has since apologised for how it handled the influx.
article_snippet: Charles Clarke, who was sacked over the foreign prisoner scandal in 2006, said: ‘