The biggest threat from immigration comes from outside the EU and Brexit will do nothing to counter that, Tony Blair has said.
The former Prime Minister said voting to leave would not solve immigration problems, but would cause an “immediate shock” to economy at the expense of jobs and living standards.
Mr Blair delivered his assessment after senior Tory campaigners for Vote Leave Boris Johnson and Michael Gove publicly challenged David Cameron on his record over immigration.
Speaking to the Andrew Marr Show, Mr Blair said: “I understand why people think the levels are too high but the fact is that one, the biggest problem that we have is non-EU migration, and secondly the reason why the Leave people have now really focussed on immigration day-after-day-after-day is because they lost so comprehensively on the economy.
“What is now clear, and I do not think they can dispute this, the economic aftershock would be severe and directly measurable in jobs and living standards and business confidence.”
The former Prime Minister also scoffed at the claim from Leave campaigners that the UK would be able to negotiate snap deals through the World Trade Organisation, which he said had been struggling to forge a worldwide trading round table for years.
“The notion that it is some simple manoeuvre to put our trading relationships through the hands of the WTO, to anybody who understands these things, it doesn’t bear thinking of. They (Leave campaigners) must know that when they are saying these things,” the former Labour leader said.
Laying out his predictions for a Brexit scenario, Mr Blair said: “We will suffer an immediate shock to our economy. We will create years of uncertainty because we will then have to renegotiate all the complicated trading partnerships we have with the rest of the EU.
“That is not some hypothetical risk, that is something you will see directly in people’s jobs, in people’s living standards and businesses’ ability to work with confidence, so it’s an enormous economic problem.
“I don’t think anyone can really dispute that. The question is, is that pain worth the gain and then, what is very difficult to see is, what is that gain that people say is so important?”
Earlier on the show, senior Vote Leave campaigner and former Conservative defence secretary Liam Fox said it is impossible to meet the 100,000 net migration target while in the EU.
“It is totally clear to us if we stay in the EU with free movement, and we saw 184,000 net EU migrants come to us last year, that will not be a pledge that we can meet,” said the Tory MP.
“It is impossible when you are planning public services to be able to deal with those sorts of numbers – with school places predicted, the NHS, housing. They are huge issues for real people.”
He added: “Our choice as a country is between gaining control and taking our destiny into our own hands or ever-closer union, ending up with what is likely to be much closer to a single European state.”
Dr Fox’s comments follow an open letter from Tory cabinet ministers and Vote Leaver campaigners Mr Johnson and Mr Gove, who said the Government’s failure to meet its 100,000 net migration target is “corrosive of public trust”.
They said that goal can never be achieved while the UK is in the EU. Total net immigration stood at 333,000 last year.
The intervention has been seen as the most outspoken attack on Mr Cameron’s record in Government from within his own cabinet as the referendum campaign continues to drive a wedge in the party.
Dr Fox, who was speaking to the Andrew Marr Show, backed David Cameron to stay on as leader even if the UK supports leaving the EU and called for an immediate healing of Conservative divisions after the referendum.
“Whatever our views have been during the referendum, we need to put to bed all those personal views and understand that stability for the country is the most important thing,” he said.
