What does the new Shadow Europe Minister mean for Labour’s position on free movement

The biggest story of last night’s mini-reshuffle was the return of Pat McFadden to Labour’s frontbenches, as Shadow Europe Minister, four years after he left his post at Shadow Business, Innovation and Skills. While much has been made of his Blairite credentials, what may be more interesting is his position on free movement within the EU.

The Labour Party has been talking a lot about “fair movement, not free movement” in the EU – most recently Shadow Immigration minister Dave Hanson on Thursday, but the phrase is also popular with Miliband, Balls and Cooper. It translates roughly as a greater focus on welcoming EU immigration from skilled workers, while making entry tougher for those who are not. As free movement is a core tenet of the European Union, it could only be achieved through major reform.

McFadden, however, seems to take the view that it is not something that can be reformed. In a 2011 article for Progress, he wrote:

“So immigration is nothing new in the UK. But what would a sensible discussion of it involve?

First of all, we would acknowledge what we can control and what we can’t control.  If we are to remain part of the EU, we cannot change the free movement of people which lies at the heart of membership. Ed Miliband was right to acknowledge that we underestimated the number of people who would come from eastern Europe.  But even if we had had a higher estimate, apart from perhaps transitional arrangements, the freedom of movement would still be there as a result of EU expansion.”

The public’s view on free movement is not altogether too clear: a recent ComRes poll found that while 52% agree that British people should have the right to live or work anywhere in the EU, only 36% think that EU citizens should have the right to live and work in the UK.