Tories in blistering attack against Keir Starmer over pledge to bring down immigration
Sir Keir Starmer has declined to name the target level for migrant numbers, or even provide a timeline.
Britain would become a “magnet for illegal migrants” under a Labour government, Home Secretary James Cleverly has warned.
Sir Keir Starmer’s party has refused to set specific targets on the level it wants to reduce net migration to in the UK should his party win the General Election on July 4.
James Cleverly, Home Secretary said: “Keir Starmer has a track record of supporting high immigration levels and helping foreign criminals stay in Britain because he believes all immigration law is racist.
“This is yet another day where Starmer will say what he thinks people want to hear during an election because he lacks conviction to say what he believes. A Labour government would allow open door immigration, making the UK a magnet for illegal migrants.
“Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are committed to cutting migration and stopping the boats. We have a record of taking bold action to cut migration to secure Britain’s future.”
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The letter backed letting asylum seekers work and supporting "ending indefinite detention and closing immigration detention centres".
Former Tory MP Bob Seely, the Conservative candidate for the Isle of Wight West, said: “It is breathtaking that this man could be PM in the next few weeks if Conservative voters on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere don’t unite to stop him.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour wants to see “significant changes” and is clear that net migration “must come down”.
But she stopped short of setting a target, saying the Conservatives have failed when they have done so and arguing that “variations” each year – such as the war in Ukraine – must also be considered.
Ms Cooper also declined to rule out offshore processing or sending asylum seekers to have their claims processed abroad.
She said: “We’re not setting a target and the reason for that is partly because, to be honest, every time the Conservatives have done this, frankly, then they have just ended up being totally all over the place, ripping it up and discredited the whole system.”
She added: “Also, because from one year to another, there are variations. So, for example, the pandemic means the net migration figures, of course, fell, but the homes for Ukraine visa rightly meant that the figures increased because of the war in Ukraine.”
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Pushed for an estimation on how much Labour want to lower migration, Ms Cooper said: “We clearly want to see significant changes in place because we have seen the numbers treble.”
She added: “I know that you’re effectively trying to suggest I set a target or a broad target, I’m not going to do that. We are going to be clear, net migration must come down.”
Sir Keir’s migration plan includes passing laws to ban law-breaking employers from hiring foreign workers and to train more Britons.
He said last year’s net migration figure of 685,000 has “got to come down” while vowing to “control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first”.
Pledges to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands have been repeatedly made by Conservative politicians over recent years, including by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron during his time as party leader.
