HOME Secretary Alan Johnson's admission that the Government had made mistakes over immigration policy has been described by one of his recent predecessors as an "honest appraisal".
HOME Secretary Alan Johnson's admission that the Government had made mistakes over immigration policy has been described by one of his recent predecessors as an "honest appraisal".
In his first speech on the topic, Mr Johnson said Labour had been "maladroit" in its handling of the issue.
He also accepted some parts of Britain were "disproportionately" affected by immigration, with an influx of new arrivals putting a "strain" on jobs and services.
Former home secretary John Reid said Mr Johnson was "right to accept that mistakes have been made in the past" and said benefits of immigration had to be weighed against social costs.
Mr Johnson said ministers had ignored for "far too long" problems in the system that led to backlogs of asylum seekers and foreign prisoners.
