STRUGGLING Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips has dismissed concerns over immigration insisting it is not too high.
Ms Phillips made the appeal in a pro immigration piece in the Independent as she continues her bid to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
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The Birmingham Yardley MP insisted Labour should champion people coming to Britain, and called for them to tell voters “immigration is great”.
She said: “Why, when we’re asked whether immigration is too high, do Labour politicians so often fumble their response? Let’s say what we think: no, it isn’t.”
“In an attempt to sound tough, Labour has sometimes been too slow to stand up against this kind of rhetoric and, in the worst cases, even been seen to appease it.
“In a battle that’s become too much about ‘the numbers’, we’ve forgotten that, at its core, immigration is about people – people who fall in love, create families, build better lives for themselves and make our communities the vibrant places they are.”
The unlikely contender called for Labour to “bust” the idea that “that working-class communities are hostile to immigration”.
She claimed it only leads to “political arm-wrestling between the left and right over who can sound the toughest on immigration.”
The outspoken MP demanded no more deportations of child refugees when they turn 18, people being able to stay without being pursued by the Home Office, getting rid of immigration detention and letting asylum-seekers work.
It comes shortly after rival for the leadership Lisa Nandy accused her party of not sticking up for Freedom of Movement.
Today will see union GMB choose a candidate to back, with Sir Keir Starmer and Ms Nandy currently the favourites.
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