Prime Minister Keir Starmer says the Labour Party had previously adopted the wrong stance on migration.
Writing in The Telegraph ahead of an expected public address on Friday (26 September), Starmer said that before his leadership, the party did shy away from voters’ concerns on illegal immigration.
He added that his government was hoping to address that through new initiatives such as the introduction of a universal ID, which would discourage illegal migrants from coming to the country.
“There is no doubt that for years Left-wing parties, including my own, did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration,” he said.
“It has been too easy for people to enter the country, work in the shadow economy, and remain illegally. We must be absolutely clear that tackling every aspect of the problem of illegal immigration is essential.”
He added that there is no ‘silver bullet’ to migration but that government must do everything it can to stop migrants from entering British Waters.
“The belief that uncontrolled legal migration was nothing but good news for an economy should never have been accepted on the Left. It is not compassionate Left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages,” said Starmer.
“The huge increase in immigration that happened under the Conservatives was based on a hyper-liberal free market viewpoint. Labour is clear that there must be no return to that.”
Attack on Reform
In his article, Starmer specifically called out Reform Uk for its simplistic approach to the immigration issue.
Earlier this week, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage unveiled plans to force all migrants with permanent residency to reapply for visas under stricter criteria, including a higher salary requirement and a better standard of English.
This will include plans to eject hundreds of thousands of legal migrants in an unprecedented reversal of Britain’s relaxed border rules.
Reform plans to abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) entirely within 100 days of a Reform government winning office, forcing economic migrants to apply for visas with stricter conditions.
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