A CABINET minister has admitted the government has presided over an asylum and immigration “free for all” and warned that the recession could be a recipe for racial tension.

Hazel Blears, the communities secretary, said Labour had failed to manage the system effectively, allowing many people to enter the country under false pretences.

“Initially it was a kind of free for all,” she said. “We had a big surge of asylum seekers, a lot of people coming as economic migrants, but through the route of asylum seeking.”

It is the first time a minister has made a bald admission that Labour mismanaged immigration in its first two terms.

Blears’s comments will be seized on by opponents of immigration policy and campaigners concerned at Britain’s population growth. Official projections show the population will rise from 61m to 70m in the next 20 years.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Blears described the government’s new points system as a “much more reassuring position for people”.

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