Migration is now the issue of our time – Labour needs to find a principled, fair and humane response

Keir Starmer

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Today Andy Burnham and I will be in the West Midlands to launch Labour’s immigration listening tour.

Starting in Wolverhampton, we will be hearing from the public, from businesses, trade unions, employers and students as well as current and former Labour voters as we look to recast and rethink Labour’s approach to this fundamental issue.

Over the next three months I will be visiting every region and country in the UK to hear people’s views. I will also be holding meetings with a range of organisations and interested parties, and have already heard important contributions from groups including the Institute for Directors, the TUC and the BMA.

At the heart of this project is the realisation that Labour need to listen to those who – as the Beckett Report emphasised – we “failed to convince” on immigration. To recognise that many Labour voters and supporters are worried about migration and to ensure their concerns are our concerns.

But there is also a wider purpose.

Over the last year there has been an intense focus on immigration and the refugee crisis – two separate and distinct issues. This will continue in 2016 and beyond not least because of the projected increase in refugee numbers and the heated debates on the EU Referendum, which are already breaking out.

Migration is now the issue of our time and Labour needs to find a principled, fair and humane response. And we need an approach relevant to the 2020’s and 2030’s, not rooted in the past.

That will take time to develop and that is why I am starting this listening process.

But what is already clear is that the Tories have completely failed to provide the coherent and comprehensive approach to migration that is needed.

They have been too slow and reluctant to help refugees fleeing persecution in greater numbers than at any time since the Second World War. Every step taken has been reluctant, trapped in their own party-politics rather than rooted in principle.

And on immigration more generally the Tory’s “cap” is in tatters, with net immigration at record levels and more than three times higher than the Prime Minister promised. Their response has been to create a ‘hostile environment’ which damages our reputation abroad and out-sources immigration checks from the Home Office to private citizens such as landlords and employers.

Their chronic short-termism and their failure to invest in skills and training has left UK businesses and public services increasingly reliant on foreign workers to plug skills gaps.

Yet at the same time, they have done little to tackle illegal immigration by improving security at our borders and improving the quality and speed of Home Office decision-making.

I believe there is now a real opportunity and responsibility for Labour to develop a sure-footed, positive and informed policy on immigration.

Today marks the start of that and I would urge anyone who wants to be involved to contact me and to share their views. You can do so by e-mailing [email protected] or by visiting one of the many events I will be holding in the next three months.

Keir Starmer MP is Shadow Immigration Minister and MP for Holborn & St Pancras

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