Labour cabinet ministers wanted to delay new EU citizens' right to work in Britain

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.

- Sammy Gecsoyler

Papers released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, showed Prescott and Straw said immigration would rapidly increase unless controls were put in place.

But others - including the then home secretary, David Blunkett - said the economy needed the "flexibility and productivity of migrant labour" if it was to continue to prosper.

On 1 May 2004, 10 countries became EU member states, the majority of them former eastern bloc states which, at the time, had lower income levels compared with the rest of Europe. People from those countries could work and live in Britain via 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 fraught discussions behind the scenes.

Prescott and Straw, who were deputy prime minister and foreign secretary at the time, urged Blair 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.