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updated 10:20 AM UTC, Dec 13, 2023

Jeremy Corbyn Heading For Clash With Labour Mps Over Immigration

Sky News: Jeremy Corbyn is heading for a new clash with Labour MPs by rejecting calls to back post-Brexit curbs on immigration.

Ahead of his end-of-conference speech in Liverpool, the Labour leader said restricting free movement could mean Britons paying the price in tit-for-tat retaliation.

Mr Corbyn said “harmonisation of wages and working conditions” across Europe – not restricting freedom of movement – was key to winning back public confidence on immigration.

In eve-of-speech TV interviews, he called for a recognition that European migrant workers make a “huge contribution to our health service, our education service and many others”.

He said: “Tighter rules will also mean it is much more difficult to travel to Europe, much more difficult to take a holiday in Europe, much more difficult to study in Europe.”

Instead of curbs on freedom of movement, Mr Corbyn said he wanted to bring about “a degree of equality of work conditions and wages across Europe”.

Mr Corbyn’s stance means he is resisting calls from Labour MPs led by former front-benchers Chuka Umunna and Rachel Reeves for a tougher stance on immigration to address voters’ concerns.

The Labour leader’s spokesman told Sky News: “Jeremy wants to address the consequences and causes of immigration. This contrasts with the Tories, who talk about overall numbers and miss their target.”

The spokesman said Mr Corbyn was “not concerned about numbers” when it came to levels of migration into the UK, which reached a net 330,000 last year.

“It is not an objective to reduce the numbers, to reduce immigration,” the spokesman added. “It is not something he has campaigned for.”

Addressing immigration in his conference speech, Mr Corbyn will pledge to restore a migrant impact fund abolished by the Conservatives.

“A Labour government will not offer false promises,” he will say. “We will not sow division or fan the flames of fear.

“We will instead tackle the real issues of immigration – and make the real changes that are needed.

“We will act to end the exploitation of migrant labour to undercut workers’ pay and conditions.

“We will ease the pressure on hard-pressed public services – services that are struggling to absorb Tory austerity cuts, in communities absorbing new populations.

“Labour will reinstate the migrant impact fund, abolished by the Tory government.

“That will give extra support to areas of high migration. We will use the visa levy for its intended purpose. And we will add a citizenship application fee levy to boost the fund.”

Reacting to Mr Corbyn’s immigration plans, Home Secretary Amber Rudd MP said: “All this shows is that Jeremy Corbyn wants unlimited immigration – and presides over a Labour Party that is too divided, incompetent and distracted to lead our country.

“While Labour have lurched from one disaster to another this week, we will get on with the job of building a country that works for everyone.”

Mr Corbyn will also call on his MPs to accept his leadership, end their “trench warfare” and work together against the Tories.

After a fractious five days in Liverpool, the Labour leader will put his party on notice for a general election and order all party members to campaign.

And in a rare conciliatory gesture to his mutinous MPs, Mr Corbyn is poised to reshuffle his Shadow Cabinet next week, bringing in some “significant names”.

Since his victory over Owen Smith in Labour’s leadership election last weekend, Mr Corbyn has been urged by Labour MPs to agree to restore elections to the Shadow Cabinet.

Many of the shadow ministers who quit in the summer have been refusing to return until Mr Corbyn agrees to elections, but some are now set to come back, according to allies of the Labour leader.

In his speech, Mr Corbyn will say: “The central task for the whole Labour Party is to rebuild trust and support to win the next general election and form the next government.

“That is the government I am determined to lead, to win power to change Britain for the better.”

And then, in a warning to his MPs, he will say: “But every one of us knows that we will only get there if we accept the decision of the members, end the trench warfare and work together to take on the Tories.

“Anything else is a luxury that the millions of people who depend on Labour cannot afford.”

Putting his party on an election footing, he will say: “Whatever the Prime Minister says about snap elections, there is every chance that Theresa May will cut and run for an early election.

“So I put our party on notice today. Labour is preparing for a general election in 2017, we expect all our members to support that effort, and we will be ready whenever it comes.”

Mr Corbyn is to say that Labour will campaign on the following 10 key pledges to rebuild and transform Britain:

  • Full employment
  • A secure homes guarantee
  • Security at work
  • A strong public NHS and social care
  • A National Education Service for all
  • Action on climate change
  • Public ownership and control of services
  • A cut in inequality of income and wealth
  • Action to secure an equal society
  • Peace and justice at the heart of foreign policy

“Those pledges, the platform on which I was re-elected leader, will now form the framework for what Labour will campaign for – and what a Labour government will do,” Mr Corbyn will say.

 

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