Keir Starmer risks making a colossal mistake on migration - analysis by Olivia Utley
Starmer unveiled his new plan to tackle illegal migration earlier today
PA
For months now Westminster has been waiting with bated breath for Sir Keir Starmer to explain Labour’s policy on migration in general, and small boats in particular.
Back in February, the Leader of the Opposition laid out his “five missions for a better Britain”, and conspicuously, there was no mention whatsoever of stopping the boats.
Seven months later and he has today gone some way towards filling the black hole where Labour’s immigration policy should be.
In an interview with The Times, the Labour leader explained that if he becomes Prime Minister, he would try to reach a “returns agreement” with the EU on migration, whereby the EU would take back some migrants who crossed the English Channel illegally from France, and in exchange, the UK would agree to take in a quota of migrants who come to the EU.
The Conservatives have gleefully seized on the plan as evidence that Keir Starmer wants to “hand back control of migration to the EU”
PA
The Conservatives have gleefully seized on the plan as evidence that Starmer wants to “hand back control of migration to the EU”.
And you can see where they are coming from. Although the leader hasn’t said so outright, it doesn’t take much imagination to see that he’d like the UK to sign up to the returns agreement that the EU is currently working on, under which each member state takes a minimum annual quota of 30,000 migrants or pay £17,200 for every migrant that they don’t accept. Those are big numbers.
And it’s not surprising, perhaps, that the Conservatives think that this is a rod with which they can beat their opponent; Starmer is already mistrusted by Labour-voting Brexiteers, and it seems unlikely he’ll endear himself to them by signing up to an EU-wide migration policy.
That said, the Conservatives are on shaky ground criticising Starmer on this. Just a few months ago, Sunak said publicly that he’s keen to “agree a returns agreement with the EU”.
He was vague about what such a deal would entail, but everyone in Westminster knows that the EU is not going to agree to take Channel migrants back from the UK unless the UK signs up to some sort of quid pro quo arrangement.
Starmer has now also made it plain that he would throw out the Government’s Rwanda policy – meaning if Labour were elected, migrants who arrive in small boats would not be automatically deported to a third country.
Interestingly, although plenty of Labour backbenchers have talked about the “brutality” of this policy, Starmer himself said only that it was expensive and unworkable.
He will be well aware that Rwanda polls well with the electorate and is in no rush to accuse potential voters of supporting a cruel policy`.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Starmer can plausibly be accused of letting the EU dictate Britain’s migration policy
PA
Traditionally, the Conservatives are trusted more than Labour on the issue of migration.
And Rishi Sunak certainly has the better hand going into the 2024 election: his Rwanda policy is popular with the public, and his opponent can plausibly be accused of letting the EU dictate Britain’s migration policy.
The beleaguered Prime Minister might still be trailing in the polls, but today, he has something to smile about.
You may like
