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Tensions between local people and Roma migrants could escalate into rioting unless action is taken to improve integration, David Blunkett has warned.
The former home secretary fears a repeat of race riots that hit northern cities in 2001.
His concerns centre on the Page Hall area of Sheffield, where Roma migrants from Slovakia have set up home.
But he also accused the government of "burying their head in the sand" over the scale of Roma settlement in the UK.
In an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, he said the Roma community had to make more of an effort to fit in with British culture.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24909979
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And he accused the government of "burying their head in the sand" over the size of the Roma community living in the UK, which he said was revealed in a recent study by Salford University.
"They [the government] have been saying there is less than 50,000 Roma in England. The Salford study shows that at a very conservative estimate, there's over 200,000. That they constitute a very large minority, with real problems."
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Not sure I recall him voicing too many similar concerns when his party was opening the migration floodgates, getting their sums badly wrong and indulging in social engineering. Odd that he's so worried now but maybe he's finally seen the light and those his party shouted down and accused of irrational bigotry had a point after all...
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Mr Blunkett's intervention was praised by UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who campaigns against the ending of border controls for migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, both countries with significant Roma populations.
He said: "Mr Blunkett should be admired for the courage he has shown by speaking so plainly on this issue. Of course, the type of language he has used I would have been utterly condemned for using.
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He's got a point too hasn't he?