Exchange of the week Corbyn’s immigration plan

To The Guardian

At last, a politician with principles who sticks by them. And those Labour MPS who accept the nasty immigration attitudes which the right-wing press has been fomenting for a decade or more should look to their consciences – and the facts – before jumping on the immigration-bashing platform.

Of course immigration on a large scale causes problems, but it is not the main cause of poverty in the UK, or the anger of working people; that is down to a decade of wage stagnation and austerity, with no end in sight as Theresa May has already forgotten about the “left-behind”. This is the biggest crisis facing Europe, with millions of refugees fleeing wars and devastation which we have helped create in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya. So is Britain going to play a part in solving the problem, or are we going to turn our back on the world?

Jeremy Corbyn is just following in Angela Merkel’s footprints when, earlier this year, she told the German people: “We can manage it, Germany is a strong country.” So, we should be asking: is Britain strong enough to play our role in dealing with the problem? Are we going to stand up and deal with the difficulties? Or are we going to run away and hide? David Reed, London

To The Guardian

So, “Corbyn rules out cutting immigration” and is “not concerned about numbers”. Does Labour really only listen to itself these days? Net migration increases the UK population by roughly a million every three years. The consequent pressure on local health, housing, education and other services is hitting specific areas of the country very hard indeed – it is not racist or anti-immigrant to be “concerned about numbers”. Did the Brexit referendum not shout into Labour’s ear that millions of voters around the country are concerned? How many voters do they have to lose to UKIP before the message gets through? Geoff Holman, Knutsford, Cheshire