Blair and Straw accused of secret immigration plan

London: Jack Straw and Tony Blair "dishonestly" concealed a plan to allow in more immigrants and make Britain more multicultural because they feared a public backlash if it was made public, it was claimed last night.

The allegation was made after a former Labour adviser said the government opened up UK borders partly to humiliate right-wing opponents of immigration.

Andrew Neather, who worked for Straw when he was Home Secretary, and as a speech writer for Blair, claimed a secret government report in 2000 called for mass immigration to change Britain's cultural make-up forever.

Neather said there was a "driving political purpose" behind Labour's decision to allow in hundreds of thousands of migrants to plug gaps in the labour market.

He said the stance was foreshadowed by a report by Blair's Performance and Innovation Unit think-tank, which said the nation would benefit from more migrants.

Neather claimed that earlier, unpublished versions of the report made clear that one aim was to make Britain more multi-cultural for political reasons.