Labour promises ‘new approach’ on immigration

In what party insiders are keen to paint as a major speech for Labour, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will this morning admit a litany of mistakes made by the party on immigration during its 13-year tenure in Government, before setting out a new strategy focused on those abusing the system illegally.

Her speech is part of a co-ordinated effort by Labour to win back trust on immigration, and follows a party political broadcast by Ed Miliband last night in which the Labour leader admitted the previous Government made mistakes on immigration and promised a “new approach”.

“Millions of people in this country are concerned about immigration,” he told TV viewers. “If people are concerned about it, then the Labour Party I lead is going to be talking about it.”

To that end, Ms Cooper will today set out a list of mistakes Labour made on immigration while in power, including the party’s failure to limit the number of people coming from eastern Europe, and its slowness in introducing an Australian-style ‘points’ system for prospective immigrants.

But the West Yorkshire MP will then train her sights firmly on current Government policy, which she will claim is so focused on an overall ‘net migration’ target that illegal immigrants – who by definition are not counted in official figures – are finding it increasingly easy to slip through the net.

“The system isn’t working at the moment, and it has got significantly worse since the election,” she will say. “For the citizens of our country, illegal immigration is what angers them most – the idea that people are abusing the system, taking advantage of Britain.

“We need much stronger action from Government.”

Last week the Government announced net migration had fallen by a third, and David Cameron took the opportunity at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday to insist he has “taken action right across the board, to deal with the completely unacceptable situation we inherited.”

Ms Cooper however, will say net migration is only part of the story.