Corbyn vows £50m to ease

Labour: Leader says he would reinstate pot of money to boost services in community

Jeremy Corbyn is to announce plans to restore a multimillion-pound fund to help communities deal with the impact of immigration.

But the Labour leader risks sparking a row within his own party, as aides said he was not making it an objective to reduce the number of migrants coming to the UK.

The announcement, in a keynote speech wrapping up Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, will come just hours after shadow home secretary Andy Burnham warns the party must “face up fully” to the fact that millions of its supporters “voted for change on immigration” in the EU referendum.

And it follows a warning from prominent backbencher Rachel Reeves of “bubbling tensions” over immigration which could explode into riots on the streets of Britain.

Speaking four days after his decisive re-election as Labour leader, Mr Corbyn will also call on rebel MPs to “end the trench warfare” and accept the decision of members and supporters who backed him over challenger Owen Smith by 62%-38%.

He promised yesterday to announce new recruits to his depleted shadow ministerial team by the time parliament returns on October 10, some of whom are expected to be among the dozens who quit the front bench in June in protest at his leadership.

And he will put the party on notice to prepare for a snap general election in 2017. In a round of TV interviews, Mr Corbyn explained that he had been talking with socialist parties around Europe about the need for what he termed “co-terminosity” – harmonisation of wages and conditions – which he said could reduce incentives for workers from countries such as Poland or Bulgaria to come to the UK. Addressing the conference today, he will call for action to stop employers using migrant workers to undercut the pay and conditions of home-grown staff.

And he will say Labour would reinstate the Migration Impact Fund introduced by Gordon Brown in 2008 to help local communities respond to pressure on services such as schools, health and housing, but abolished by the coalition government in 2010.

Mr Brown’s £50million scheme was funded by a £50 visa levy on non-EU migrants. Mr Corbyn will boost its resources with a new citizenship application fee.

APPLAUSE: Mayor of London Sadiq Khan gestures to the crowd and is clapped by Jeremy Corbyn at the Labour Autumn Conference in Liverpool