John Reid today imposed curbs on migrant workers from Bulgaria and Romania after winning a fierce Cabinet battle against Margaret Beckett.
Details of the restrictions were expected to include a strict ceiling on numbers and a points system to allocate places to skilled workers needed by firms.
But the package has infuriated the Foreign Secretary, whose supporters are accusing Mr Reid of "nuking" Britain's relations with eastern Europe. Mrs Beckett was revealed to have fought bitterly against Mr Reid's plans at a Cabinet committee and was furious when broad details were leaked in advance.
She was convinced that the Home Secretary had leaked the plan in an attempt to bulldoze his way through the Cabinet opposition.
The Foreign Secretary was supported by Europe Minister Geoff Hoon, who works from the Foreign Office, while Mr Reid was backed by Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton, who was worried that more migrant labour could upset job creation programmes.
Mr Reid is expected to say that while a limited number of unskilled workers will be taken on to carry out jobs such as fruit-picking, the UK will not continue to operate an "open door" policy.
The controls come after the Government was humiliated by getting its predictions completely wrong about the number of Poles and other eastern Europeans who would flock to Britain when their countries joined the EU in 2004. The Home Office forecast 13,000 workers would come - but in the event some 300,000 to 600,000 arrived.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770