This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/oct/30/tony-blair-warns-miliband-curbing-inflation-would-be-disaster-for-uk

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Tony Blair warns curbing immigration would be disaster for Britain Tony Blair warns curbing immigration would be disaster for Britain
(about 4 hours later)
Tony Blair has intervened in the increasingly fractious debate on how counter Ukip’s appeal over immigration by saying that chasing Ukip’s support will only validate the argument of its leaders. Tony Blair has intervened in the increasingly fractious debate on how to counter Ukip’s appeal over immigration by saying any attempt by Labour to chase its policies would only validate the argument of Ukip’s leaders.
He urged the Labour party to show greater clarity that immigration is both necessary and defensible. He said ending immigration would be a disaster for the country, and urged the Labour party to show greater clarity.
In an interview with Progress magazine he said “Let’s be clear: we don’t think that Ukip’s right, not on immigration and not on Europe – so the first thing you’ve got to be really careful of doing is … saying things that suggest that they’re kind of justified in their policy because what you’re actually going to do is validate their argument when in fact you don’t believe in it.’ In an interview with Progress magazine, the former prime minister said “Let’s be clear: we don’t think that Ukip’s right, not on immigration and not on Europe – so the first thing you’ve got to be really careful of doing is … saying things that suggest that they’re kind of justified in their policy, because what you’re actually going to do is validate their argument when in fact you don’t believe in it.”
He also repeated his belief that immigration from the European Union and outside should have been accompanied by identity cards, something that was rejected by parliament.
ID cards were vital, he said, to ensure the “system doesn’t get abused and exploited, and you don’t end up with people feeling that they’ve lost control over their communities and their lives.”
Labour, he says, should not “end up chasing after the policies of a party like Ukip, who you don’t agree with, whose policies would take this country backwards economically, politically, in every conceivable way, and who, ultimately, at the heart of what they do, have a rather nasty core of prejudice that none of us believe in, which you’ve actually got to take on and fight. So the way to deal with this is to deal with it by what you believe.”Labour, he says, should not “end up chasing after the policies of a party like Ukip, who you don’t agree with, whose policies would take this country backwards economically, politically, in every conceivable way, and who, ultimately, at the heart of what they do, have a rather nasty core of prejudice that none of us believe in, which you’ve actually got to take on and fight. So the way to deal with this is to deal with it by what you believe.”
Blair did not say whether he regarded Ed Miliband’s stance as too weak, but Miliband has said Labour made mistakes in handling immigration during the Blair era and has called for a range of labour market measures designed to reduce the threat of exploitation of migrants, and so make British workers more attractive in the labour market. Blair did not say whether he regarded Ed Miliband’s stance as too weak, but Miliband has said Labour made mistakes on immigration during the Blair era and has called for a range of labour market measures to reduce the threat of exploitation of migrants and so make British workers more attractive in the labour market.
He did however attack David Cameron. In a reference to his own battle with the unions for control of the Labour party, Blair said the Conservative party’s “Clause IV is Europe, and the fact that they haven’t dealt with it and have now allowed this thing to run away again with their party, it doesn’t do them any electoral favours at all.” Blair did attack David Cameron. In a reference to his own battle with the unions for control of the Labour party, Blair said the Conservative party’s “Clause IV is Europe, and the fact that they haven’t dealt with it and have now allowed this thing to run away again with their party, it doesn’t do them any electoral favours at all”.
The former prime minister believes the Tories would attract more support “if they actually stood up against these people and said: ‘You don’t understand the way the world works today, your policies will take us backwards and we’re not going there’” Blair believes the Tories would attract more support “if they actually stood up against these people and said: ‘You don’t understand the way the world works today, your policies will take us backwards and we’re not going there.’”
He also urged Labour not be lured to the left in a bid to win votes. He said an emphasis on “strong values, but practical, non-ideological solutions” is “definitely where people are”. He added: “It’s often not where political parties are because they want to appeal to their activists.” He also urged Labour not to be lured to the left in an attempt to win votes. He said an emphasis on “strong values, but practical, non-ideological solutions” is “definitely where people are”. He added: “It’s often not where political parties are, because they want to appeal to their activists.”
But, he argues, Labour should beware: “There’s a huge desire in a large part of the media in this country to return British politics to a traditional Tory party fighting a traditional Labour party.” Miliband, facing threats from Ukip in the south and the Scottish nationalists north of the border is determined to stick to his strategy of focusing on an economic recovery that benefits working people.
Such a contest, the only man who has led Labour to victory in the last 40 years concludes grimly, always results in “a traditional result”. He promised to give city and county regions more power over public transport networks, especially bus services, in the same way that Transport for London runs the capital’s bus services.
The city regions will be given powers to set fares, decide routes and integrate bus services with trams, trains and the wider public transport network.
He also announced he was setting up an English regional shadow cabinet and promised an English devolution act in the first parliamentary session after the election. It would be for the combined authorities to decide if they want a directly elected mayor.