I was RIGHT to open Britain's borders to hundreds of thousands of Eastern European migrants, insists Tony Blair 

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Tony Blair has insisted he was right to let hundreds of thousands of Eastern European migrants move to Britain.

The former Prime Minister said it was not a 'mistake' to open Britain's borders to eight former Communist countries in 2004, despite the decision being criticised by the Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Mr Miliband said the former PM had 'got it wrong' when he allowed people from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to work in Britain without restrictions.

Tony Blair has insisted he was right to let hundreds of thousands of Eastern European migrants move to Britain

Britain was almost alone in the EU in not imposing transitional controls to slow the rate of migration. 

The decision to allow freedom of movement into Britain sparked a mass wage of migration - with around 170,000 eastern European migrants moving to the UK every year.

Mr Miliband said the party under Mr Blair 'became too disconnected from the concerns of working people'.

The Labour leader has pledged to ban immigrants from claiming benefits for two years and to tackle rogue employers exploiting migrant labour.

But Mr Blair said political leaders needed to stand up and defend freedom of movement in Europe.

He said the only way to defeat Ukip and other anti-immigration parties was to expose their 'ridiculous' plans.

Labour leader Ed Miliband said Mr Blair had 'got it wrong' when he allowed people from Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to work in Britain without restrictions.

Mr Blair said migrants would have come sooner or later even if transitional controls had been imposed.

He said: 'I don't agree it was a mistake. All we did was bring forward what would have happened anyway. In 2004 the economy was booming and we had a requirement for skilled workers from abroad.

'Supposing you put all those people from Eastern Europe back out of Britain again would we be a stronger better country? The answer is no.'

Tony Blair said political leaders should attack Nigel Farage instead of pandering to his party's views

Mr Blair made the remarks in an interview with Trevor Philips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, for a Channel 4 documentary to be broadcast on Thursday.

He said Labour MPs should argue back against people like Rochdale voter Gillian Duffy – the infamous Labour-supporting pensioner dismissed as a 'bigot' by Gordon Brown in the run up to the 2010 election for complaining about the levels of immigration.

Mr Blair said: 'I would have said to her, I understand why you feel as you feel and why it's difficult.

'But here's the other side of the picture. So if we want to keep all those people out of the country let's look at what their impact has actually been on our country and let's look at why the idea in the European Union that people are able to move freely across frontiers is a good idea.

'I mean, you have just got to put the argument. She probably wouldn't agree and she might vote for someone else as a result.'

Political leaders have a 'duty' to say that UKIP's proposals to end free movement are 'ridiculous', he said.

He said: 'If Britain wrenched itself out of the European Union, this idea that Nigel Farage would go off - can you imagine anything more ridiculous than the idea that he would negotiate a bespoke agreement between Britain and the European Union?

'I mean that would be an interesting negotiation to be a fly on the wall on.'

'I'm not saying you don't have to deal with it with a real understanding of the anxieties that people have but your job as the leader is to say 'Well, look, this is where I think we should go.'

'If you believe in the UKIP thing then say it, but don't indulge their rhetoric, their sentiment around the issue, because what you do then is you effectively you give them a greater credibility.'