If officials had known, they “might well have either delayed sterling’s entry into the ERM or have contrived a significantly lower rate of entry”.. It revealed Treasury fears that disclosing its economic forecasts in 1992 would fuel Tory demands for the release of today’s Treasury growth forecasts and internal assessments about whether Mr Brown would breach his fiscal rules.Lord Lamont said: “The Labour Party is in no position to make political capital out of the ERM, a policy they supported strongly. This prompted further Tory claims of “dirty tricks”, but the Treasury insisted the report was out of date and had been sent by mistake.The leaked report showed that the full documents spoke of “open warfare” between Mrs Thatcher and Mr Major when he was her chancellor. They have previously been estimated at up to £27bn.Mr Major admitted the ERM episode was “politically very damaging” to the Tories but insisted that it was “essential for the creation of the economic stability that has subsequently existed”.The former prime minister attacked the “lies” spread last week, when The Times reported that he and his former chancellor, Norman Lamont, were trying to block release of the papers. Mr Major said: “There is something cruelly wrong with the way the Act is operating when it is possible for people to disinter, at will, episodes that they think will embarrass the previous Conservative government, when matters that are of current importance to the electorate are blocked day after day after day.”Publication of the documents was brought forward after an astonishing leak to the BBC of an internal Treasury report on whether sensitive parts should be withheld. One Treasury official said the ERM exit might “well be a blessing in disguise” even though it weakened the Government’s authority and national morale. “The truth of the matter is, I have never been sure whether that was the right decision to have taken,” he said.The disclosure of the Treasury papers has prompted a row, with the Tories accusing Labour of trying to use the Act to embarrass them while holding back sensitive papers about Gordon Brown’s current economic forecasts.Britain joined the ERM during Margaret Thatcher’s premiership in 1990, pegging sterling to other European currencies, but crashed out on 16 September 1992.

That compared with an initial government prediction that expansion of the EU could lead to net migration of up to 13,000.* Migrationwatch UK, the right-wing immigration think-tank, said in a report last night that there had been a major trend of white families moving out of London to the regions, while large numbers of ethnic minorities arrived in the capital from overseas.. New figures showed that 1,029,000 people from the eight new eastern European members visited Britain in the first eight months after accession withapproximately 92,000 saying they were intending to stay for more than three months. Britain’s humiliating exit from the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) cost taxpayers £4bn, according to confidential Treasury documents released yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act. Tony Blair predicted yesterday that the number of migrants heading to Britain would drop as a result of the Government’s overhaul of the immigration and asylum system.

Low-skilled migrants will be permitted to enter for fixed periods but receive no right to settle.Mr Blair ridiculed Tory proposals, which include an annual cap on immigrants and offshore processing. A spokesman said other travellers would be unable to hear the news, weather and sport provided by ITN.A Central trains spokesman said 80 per cent of commuters using the Birmingham routes were happy with the system.Anthony Smith, national director of the Rail Passengers’ Council, said: “I don’t think people want this sort of interruption Train journeys are often a real haven of peace and quiet.”. But Mr Howard produced a letter from the Prime Minister to the President of the European Council in 2003 offering to discuss the idea of sending people seeking asylum in EU countries to a “transit processing centre” outside the European nations.The Tories returned to the impact of the expansion of the European Union on 1 May last year. Other operators in line to introduce on-board televisions are Southern, One and Arriva Trains Wales.Unless there is a revolt by commuters, it is thought that screens will be placed on most commuter trains. The company providing the equipment, 360 Onboard, will pay the train companies a fee, funded by advertisements on the screens.At C2C the sets will be placed at the ends of the carriages with three-quarters of seats equipped with speakers which cannot be turned off by passengers.