Howard challenges Blair on EU immigration

He said the prime minister was saying “completely different things from others in his own government”.

“The prime minister said one thing last Wednesday, contradicted that very afternoon by his own official spokesman, he was contradicted at the weekend by the home secretary, then by another official spokesman and then by the official spokesman again on Monday,” he said.

“Last week we saw a bold statement on Wednesday, good headlines on Thursday, a climb-down on Friday and total confusion by the weekend.”

And he went on to demand a clear statement of the government's policy on immigration from new EU member states.

“Will he now give us a clear answer? Will the government do what other countries are doing, and what the prime minister said he was looking at, will he impose transitional controls on immigration from the accession countries or not," he said.

Attack dismissed

Blair dismissed the attack - accusing Howard of asking questions “without actually paying an attention to the answers he was given”.

“The position as I set it out is this. There is free movement of people after May 1, free movement of workers, however, is a concession we are prepared to grant – but not in circumstances where it can be abused," said the prime minister.

“I don’t see what is very complicated about that.”

The prime minister insisted there was no contradiction in government policy.

The "free movement of people" is distinct from the "free movement of workers" he argued.