Newly released files have revealed that senior ministers, including Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, urged then-Prime Minister Tony Blair to delay granting employment rights to workers from Eastern and Central European countries following the European Union’s expansion in 2004. This push to slow down the entry of workers from Poland and other newly joined EU nations came as part of the government’s deliberations on how to manage the influx of new workers.
In February 2004, Jack Straw warned that Britain was taking a unique approach compared to other larger EU states, which were largely hesitant to offer the same concession. Under the government’s proposal, workers from Poland and other newly-joined EU countries would be able to work in the UK from May 1, 2004, but this was far more generous than the policies being adopted by most other EU nations. Almost all other large EU countries were imposing a two-year delay on work rights for the new entrants, with only Italy remaining undecided at the time. Other smaller EU states, aside from Ireland, had work permit schemes that would limit the number of workers entering their countries.
Jack Straw proposed a six-month delay for the UK to prevent what he described as a “very difficult situation” in early May. He warned that if the numbers of incoming workers were higher than expected, the UK could be forced to revoke the concession under the least favorable conditions. His concerns were echoed by John Prescott, the then-Deputy Prime Minister, who was particularly worried about the impact on social housing. Prescott feared that many workers, especially from Eastern Europe, would head to London and the South East of England. Unable to find affordable housing, they would be forced to overcrowd and share poor quality accommodations.
Despite these concerns, Home Secretary David Blunkett argued that the UK economy needed the flexibility and productivity that these new workers could bring. The government had initially projected that only around 13,000 new workers would come to Britain each year following the EU expansion. However, as the scheme was implemented, it became clear that the number of new arrivals was far higher than expected.
In response to this, the government quickly developed a “workers registration scheme” to manage the flow of workers from the eight new EU member states. This scheme required workers from the new EU countries, known as the A8, to pay a fee and register their employment with the Home Office. If they failed to do so, they would face substantial fines. Despite the government’s concerns, the scheme began operation on May 1, 2004, with No 10 monitoring registration figures closely.
Over time, it became evident that the number of workers entering the UK far exceeded the government’s projections. Initially, 24,000 workers had registered with the scheme, but the government was keen to downplay the impact by claiming that most of these workers had already been living in the UK before the registration began. Meanwhile, figures showed that the majority of the new arrivals were young people, aged 18 to 34, and there was no evidence to suggest that they were exploiting the country’s welfare system. Tony Blair reportedly noted that this was the key point for the government’s narrative.
However, Kate Gross, a private secretary at No 10, pointed out the potential problem in comparing the numbers of new arrivals to the Home Office’s previous projections. She warned that if the number of applications continued to rise at the same rate, the UK could see an influx of 50,000 to 60,000 new workers by May 2005. This increased pressure on the government to manage the situation.
Though some initial figures showed a decrease in the number of registrations after a peak in applications, the scheme’s limitations were soon exposed. The workers registration scheme failed to account for self-employed workers, such as carpenters, many of whom were in the building trades. Additionally, enforcement of the scheme was minimal, allowing many workers to slip through the cracks.
The inadequacies of the scheme became more apparent by late 2005 when the press exposed a major flaw. According to the government’s registration system, there were only 95 Polish plumbers in the entire UK, but a Daily Mail investigation found 95 Polish plumbers working in London alone within a 24-hour period. This revealed that the system was not providing an accurate record of the number of workers entering the country.
Despite the flaws in the system, the number of A8 nationals, particularly from Poland, continued to grow throughout the years. In the decade following the EU expansion, the number of Polish nationals living in the UK soared from around 69,000 to approximately 853,000. By the time of the 2021 census, the number of Polish-born residents in the UK stood at 743,000.
While many of the migrants have since returned to their home countries, the impact of the 2004 EU expansion continues to shape the UK’s workforce and migration policies to this day. The files released from the National Archives now offer a detailed look at the decisions made by the Blair government during a pivotal moment in the country’s history, revealing the internal disagreements and concerns about managing the flow of new EU workers.
