Blocking small boats Bill is a trap, Blunkett tells Labour

LORD BLUNKETT has called on Labour not to block the new small boats legislation in the House of Lords, despite his party leadership’s fierce criticism of the measures.

The Labour peer was home secretary during Tony Blair’s government and is one of the party’s most prominent figures in the debate about immigration policy.

Sir Keir Starmer’s team has made clear that Labour MPS will be whipped to vote against the Illegal Migration Bill when it comes up for votes in the House of Commons.

But speaking on BBC Radio Four’s The Week in Westminster, Lord Blunkett urged his party not to try to block the measures in the House of Lords.

Lord Blunkett said: “We’re undoubtedly moving towards elephant traps.

Whichever way the Labour Party jumps on this one, the Government are going to exploit it.

“I’ve already suggested that, in the House of Lords, we should actually take the committee stage, we should move the practical amendments but we shouldn’t push them.

“We should allow this Bill to go through and the Government have got 18 months to show whether they really can make it work – I don’t think they can, but let’s see.”

Told his stance seemed to clash with Sir Keir’s stance for Labour MPS to vote against the Bill in the Commons, Lord Blunkett waved away the concerns.

He said: “Yeah, I’m talking about the House of Lords. I’m talking about ensuring we’re not part of the agenda in the next 18 months of finding someone else – in truly Donald Trumpian fashion – to blame for failure.”