LABOUR’S FREE FOR ALL ON MIGRANTS
They’d shut two detention centres, axe migration targets and force Home Office to prove person is here illegally
LABOUR was accused of ‘running up the white flag’ last night after pledging to scrap controls on illegal immigration.
The shadow home secretary also vowed to scrap the requirement for bosses and landlords to carry out checks on a worker or tenant’s right to be in the country.
Miss Abbott said it was Jeremy Corbyn’s ambition to ‘reframe’ public debate on the issue. The Labour leader later tweeted his support for her speech.
Tories said the proposals would wreck efforts to deal with the estimated million illegals in Britain.
‘Diane Abbott has confirmed what we already know – that Labour will have an open- door policy where anybody who wishes to come to our country can do so,’ said Andrew Bridgen MP.
‘Labour are running up the white flag on illegal immigration and declaring an amnesty for those here illegally.
‘Under Labour, there will be no such thing as an illegal immigrant because anyone who wants to come to our country will be made welcome.’
Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘Labour’s plans would demolish policies – under successive governments – that are vital for tackling illegal immigration. Completely the wrong approach.’
Caroline Nokes, who is the immigration minister, warned against closing any detention centres, saying this could put communities at risk.
Labour politicians have focused on immigration controls following revelations about the treatment of the Windrush generation and the resignation of Amber Rudd as Home Secretary over deportation targets. Last year, a former Diane Abbott said she would close two main detention centres, axe migration targets and force officials to prove suspects were in Britain without permission.
Home Office chief said Britain was home to more than a million illegal migrants.
David Wood, who was head of immigration enforcement, told MPs that few of them were ever likely to be sent home.
Both Tory and Labour governments have brought in a series of measures to tackle the problem and at the Home Office Theresa May introduced a ‘hostile environment’ policy.
But, speaking at an Institute for Public Policy Research event yesterday, Miss Abbott said Labour would try a fresh approach. A Labour government would shut two of the main detention centres, Yarl’s Wood in Bedford and Brook House near Gatwick airport.
The remaining centres would be returned to local authorities, she added.
Labour would also end indefinite detention by restricting it to 28 days and introducing a system of ‘reporting and monitoring’.
A key plank of Miss Abbott’s strategy would involve shifting the burden of proof to the Home Office to establish whether a person was in the country illegally.
Critics pointed out that this could encourage illegal immigrants to tear up their papers so officials would not be able to prove they had no right to remain.
Those who come under investigation over their status would be granted ‘proper’ rights of appeal, possibly using legal aid, she said. Currently, these state funds are available only to those who are claiming asylum.
‘If we are going to deprive people of the right to be here, we must be clear that they do not have the right to live here,’ said Miss Abbott.
Labour would also end the minimum income stipulation for migrants to bring a spouse from abroad and always allow children to join them. ‘If Labour under Jeremy Corbyn cannot begin the process of reframing the debate on migration then I think Jeremy would feel he had failed,’ she said. ‘The Labour Party is under new management and part of new management is having a very different conversation on migration.’
Asked whether her announcements would send the signal that Labour was
‘A very different conversation’
soft on immigration, she told Sky News that she wanted a system that was ‘efficient and fair’.
Mr Corbyn said: ‘We’ll end Theresa May’s “hostile environment” that has ruined the lives of so many Windrush citizens, close Yarl’s Wood and invest in services for survivors of trafficking and domestic violence.’ Miss Abbott’s announcement comes after new Home Secretary Sajid Javid disclosed on Tuesday that 63 members of the Windrush generation may have been wrongly removed or deported.
She said the scandal was a ‘direct consequence’ of Mrs May’s policy – when she was home secretary – of making life as difficult as possible for illegal immigrants.
Miss Abbott also said she would end the Government’s target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands.
‘This was political phrasemaking and it was never a workable policy,’ she said.
Addressing Labour’s plan to close two of Britain’s main immigration detention centres, Mrs Nokes said: ‘Immigration detention is a vital tool in helping ensure those with no right to remain in the UK are returned to their home country.
‘And, if this (Labour’s plan) led to the release of serious offenders this could put communities at risk.’
UNDER Labour, there will be no more detention centres for illegal migrants and no more checks by employers or landlords on a person’s right to be here.
Instead, it will be left to the Home Office to prove someone is here illegally, meaning suspects may escape deportation merely by burning their papers.
Indeed, as Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott vows to abandon virtually all attempts to tackle illegal immigration, it is hard to imagine a greater betrayal of her party’s core voters. In poll after poll they have put the need to control immigration among their most pressing concerns.
This is not about racism. It’s about sheer pressure of numbers on jobs, wages, housing, schools and NHS care. It’s also about fairness – the belief that the millionplus who are here illegally have no right to services others have paid for.
In the referendum, majorities in some 70 per cent of Labour constituencies voted to take back control of our borders. Many may think twice before continuing to back a party intent on throwing them open.