Corbyn: I want to keep Britain’s borders open

JEREMY Corbyn said yesterday he would keep Britain’s borders open to migrants if he took power.

The Labour leader said he was not against free movement and the UK economy depended on foreign workers. ‘What I want to end is the undercutting of workers’ rights and conditions,’ he added.

‘Many workers that are vital in this country to agriculture, to the care sector, to the NHS and to education have either left or are contemplating leaving. We have 100,000 vacancies in the NHS. Our economy relies on people coming in from other countries. I want to keep that.’

He said after Brexit the question of free movement with EU states would be open to negotiation.

Mr Corbyn again refused to confirm that an immediate challenge would take place if Mrs May lost the ‘meaningful’ Brexit vote tomorrow.

‘We will table a motion of no confidence in the Government at a time of our choosing, but it’s going to be soon, don’t worry about that,’ he told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1.

Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, Labour can call a noconfidence motion, which would probably prompt a general election if it succeeded. Labour’s plan on Brexit, as decided at the party’s conference, is to first seek a general election. Failing this, a second Brexit vote is a possibility. While polling suggests a large majority of party members want Mr Corbyn to actively seek a new referendum, the Labour leader has said he wants to negotiate a better deal with Brussels instead. He indicated his preference would be to leave the EU with a pact that kept the UK in a customs union and with access to the single market.

■ Last night a think-tank urged ministers to scrap migration targets and abolish a cap on work visas for highly-skilled migrants. The free market Institute of Economic Affairs said the immigration policy was ‘economically damaging’.