Tony Blair to blame for Brexit, says Philip Hammond

Philip Hammond has blamed Tony Blair for Brexit, arguing the former prime minister was responsible for a "deluge" of immigration from the European Union.

The Chancellor said Mr Blair's 2004 decision not to impose transitional limits on workers from new eastern European members of the EU changed the public outlook on freedom of movement.

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Talking to Sky News on the fringes of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Hammond said: "I'm convinced that the die was cast on British attitudes to EU migration back in 2004 when Tony Blair decided not to have a transition phase.

"We had a deluge of new migrants coming to the UK - a far higher number than the government had predicted in 2004/5.

"I think the attitudes that were displayed in the referendum result were formed during that period when people felt very scared by the scale of migration into the UK from Eastern Europe.

"Tony Blair's government told us to expect 30,000 - we got 300,000.

"I can understand why people in Britain found that change and the speed of that change very challenging and sometimes frightening. And that shaped the attitudes we saw in the referendum decision."

The comments are particularly striking given where they were delivered.

Davos is an annual event at which Mr Blair has been a prominent figure since the 1990s.