Politics

Corbyn says Labour will not put an arbitrary target on immigration


Jeremy Corbyn has said Labour will not put an arbitrary target on immigration, as he defended the “value of migration to society” in the face of the Tory pledge to cut numbers.

As the Conservatives and Labour clashed over immigration, Corbyn strongly rejected the idea of a limit on the number of people entering the country, saying: “Putting arbitrary figures on it as successive governments have done simply doesn’t work.”

He said he wanted to make it easier for migrants to bring their family members to the UK and for British workers to be able to work across Europe.

Corbyn also accused the Conservatives of “making up” numbers and policy after Priti Patel, the home secretary, claimed a Labour government would lead to open borders and an extra 840,000 new entrants a year.

The Labour leader explained his immigration policy after weeks of speculation about whether the party would adopt an aim to “maintain and expand freedom of movement rights”, which was passed by members at autumn conference. Corbyn said the motion would not “necessarily” make its way into the manifesto.

He said freedom of movement would continue if the UK votes in a second referendum to stay in the EU. However, if Labour were to negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU, it would involve a “special arrangement” on immigration and free movement, and he would want to expand rights for migrants to bring family members to the UK.

Corbyn told the BBC: “If we are remaining members of the EU, which will be an option in the referendum that we will put, then obviously free movement continues.

“If we come to a special arrangement with the EU and then there will be a recognition of the needs of European families to have the right of family reunion, the right to reside, and of course British people to work in different European countries.”

Ultimately, any Brexit deal negotiated by Labour which keeps close access to the single market would be likely to have fairly similar freedom of movement rules to those currently in place but it would not be exactly the same regime.

Senior Labour figures argued that their position fulfils their conference policy of wanting to “maintain and expand” freedom of movement rights, as they would maintain free movement for EU citizens already in the UK and one of their aims is expanding family reunion rights.

Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, tweeted: “This is the actual resolution passed overwhelmingly at Labour party conference. I fully support the policy to ‘maintain and extend free movement rights’.

“The Labour party is committed to maintaining and extending freedom of movement rights. But the Tories will remove those rights from the EU 3 Million. We will maintain them.

“The Tories break up families by barring spouses of British citizens, via an income requirement. Labour will scrap it, and extend freedom of movement rights to all those legally entitled to be here, including our own citizens among others.”

Labour argued that the motion did not specifically refer to geographic expansion of free movement beyond the EU but those who drafted the motion said their intention had been to argue for a policy of open borders beyond Europe.

Ana Oppenheim, a spokesperson for the Labour Campaign for Free Movement, said: “The formulation of ‘defend and extend’ captures our position well – that we cannot give an inch to any attacks on existing migrants’ rights, and that, in principle, we want to expand free movement beyond Europe’s borders. That clearly doesn’t force Labour to immediately abolish all immigration rules, and it is also possible to honestly interpret the motion a different way.”

Some in Labour take a different view, with Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, saying on Wednesday that victory in the election would mean taking a tough line on free movement of workers.

McCluskey told the Guardian on Wednesday that shadow cabinet members should not upset Labour’s carefully crafted Brexit position during the election and that he would oppose any attempts to extend free movement.

“We will have to see what’s in the manifesto, but I don’t think [what conference voted for] is a sensible approach and I will be expressing that view,” he said, adding he was keen to shore up the party’s support in marginal seats in the Midlands and north of England, both of which are being targeted by Boris Johnson.

With the Conservatives seeking to make migration a key election issue, McCluskey said Labour needed to show how it was going to prevent pay and conditions from being undercut before it could consider relaxing its stance. He said: “It’s wrong in my view to have any greater free movement of labour unless you get stricter labour market regulation.”



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