SIR Keir Starmer today unveils a manifesto promise to cut the number of immigrants coming to Britain.
The Labour leader made the landmark pledge in an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday.
Announcing a two-pronged bid to curb numbers, he said Labour will pass laws to crack down on “bad bosses” hiring foreigners and train more Brits.
Net migration hit 685,000 last year — the second highest in the nation’s history.
Sir Keir told The Sun on Sunday: “Read my lips — I will bring immigration numbers down.
"If you trust me with the keys to No10 I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first.”
He added: “This is a changed Labour Party, back in the service of working people.
“That means not just talking about sky-high migration but acting on it.”
The Sun on Sunday can reveal that the Labour Party would bring in two big legal changes to cut migration.
Bad bosses who break employment law — for example by failing to pay their staff the minimum wage — will be banned from hiring workers from abroad.
Training will also be linked to immigration, so sectors applying for foreign worker visas must first train Brits to do the jobs.
This will also help bring down the bloated benefits bill, Sir Keir added.
It is the first time that the Labour leader has publicly committed to curbing immigration if he becomes PM.
His remarks - his hardest hitting ever on immigration - parks Labour tanks firmly on Tory lawns.
His remarks — his hardest-hitting ever on this massive election issue — park Labour tanks firmly on Tory lawns.
Sir Keir refused to say what he would cut migrant numbers to, or by when.
Instead he took aim at Tory PMs from David Cameron onwards for promising but failing to cut numbers.
Instead, he took aim at Tory PMs from David Cameron to Rishi Sunak for promising but failing to cut numbers.
I’m not going to duck the challenge. It’s got to come down
Sir Keir Starmer
Speaking on Friday as he visited the Port of Greenock, near Glasgow, Sir Keir insisted: “I’m not going to duck the challenge. It’s got to come down.”
He added: “The 685,000 migration number — it’s the second highest on record.
“We are near Glasgow and that’s more people than the entire city of Glasgow.
“The Conservatives repeatedly say they are going to cut these numbers. They have never done it. They have completely failed. They have never had a strategy to deal with it.”
He said bosses have become “too reliant” on foreign workers and must be weaned off immigration.
Sir Keir said: “You should always have a choice of recruiting a British worker first.
He said passing laws to curb sky-high immigration would be a top priority.
At the centre of his strategy would be legislating to link the immigration system to training.
When businesses ask for foreign work visas to be doled out, it would automatically trigger a plan to instead train Brits in those trades.
This would be done by bringing together the Migration Advisory Committee, the Industrial Strategy Council and Skills England.
Alongside this would be the tougher approach to bad bosses who flout employment law by under-paying British workers or by breaking health and safety regulations.
Guilty employers would be banned from hiring overseas workers.
If you trust me with the keys to No10 I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first
Sir Keir Starmer
In a direct warning to these dodgy bosses, Sir Keir said: “If you undercut, if you don’t do the right thing, we’re not going to slap you on the wrist. We are not going to fine you.
“We are going to ban you.”
Sir Keir’s remarks risk kicking off a war with the left-wing of his party.
His words show that despite being more than 20 points ahead in the opinion polls, Labour are worried their old reputation for being soft on borders could end up harming them at the ballot box.
It comes as the election campaign stepped up a gear with the launch of the Tory and Labour battle buses.
If the polls are correct, Sir Keir will be the first Labour leader since Tony Blair to win a General Election.
The 61-year-old has been accused by some of being a “copycat Blair” — hiring his old staff, wrapping himself in the flag like the Blairites did and even adopting the same look by rolling up his shirt sleeves.
But on immigration he is adopting a very different tone.
So does he think Mr Blair was wrong to not be tougher on borders?
Sir Keir said: “Circumstances have changed. That was a different era.
“I think, whether it is on immigration or more generally, security is a much greater concern for everyone.”
In a wide-ranging interview, the Labour leader repeated his pledge not to raise income tax, National Insurance or VAT.
But he refused to rule out introducing new green levies on bills.
He said: “What I can guarantee is this: we recognise this shouldn’t disproportionately impact people, particularly people who don’t have a lot of money.
“I’m not in an instant going to say there will be no such thing as a levy ever again.”
You should always have a choice of recruiting a British worker first
Sir Keir Starmer
Sir Keir has another four and half weeks on the road before election day on July 4.
Labour are so worried about throwing away their poll lead that staffers have been banned from saying the word “win” in case it breeds complacency.
A few months ago, Sir Keir had dinner with his hero — former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Sir Keir said: “He is a great man who fundamentally changed football.”
Under Wenger, Arsenal famously went undefeated throughout the 2003-04 Premier League season — earning the nickname The Invincibles.
Will Sir Keir manage the same and clinch the race for No10?
Or will Labour concede one too many and see victory snatched away?
BRITS will be able to have more babies under Labour, Sir Keir Starmer has suggested.
Couples have chosen to have fewer children or not start families at all because of the cost of living crisis, the Labour leader warned.
Sir Keir said that if he is elected PM he will turn the economy around - giving Brits the chance to start planning for families sooner.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun on Sunday, Sir Keir said: “Not being able to get on the housing ladder until you are in your late 30s is shocking.
“Having a roof over your head really matters.
“I spoke to a family in Wolverhampton who were going to have another child, but because Liz Truss crashed the economy their mortgage went through the roof and they decided not to have a second child.
“That’s why people are so angry.”
Asked if this means Brits will have more babies if Labour win the election next month, he said: “Well, people able to plan their lives.
“To be able to have a family and have a house and move to a bigger house when you have a bigger family is part of ordinary working class aspiration that I fundamentally believe in, and the stock from which I came.”
Women in the UK are having fewer children today than at any point since records began in 1939, official stats show.
On average,’women are having 1.49 children each, the Office for National Statistics found.
Women are also waiting longer to have children.
SIR Keir Starmer accused the Tories of “hollowing out” our Armed Forces - but refused to match their military spending pledge.
He spoke out after British Army troop numbers shrank to below 73,000 for the first time ever.
PM Rishi Sunak has vowed to get defence spending up to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030 if the Tories win the election.
Sir Keir failed to match the pledge - saying he will hit 2.% per cent too but only when it is affordable.
He said: “I won’t take lessons from the government. They are the ones who have hollowed out the Army.
“We have the lowest Army now since Napoleonic times. Their record on this is appalling.”
Labour will carry out a strategic defence review in the first year if they get into No10, he said.
Sir Keir denied he was being unpatriotic by having a go at the Tory plan to bring back compulsory national service for all 18 year-olds.
“I’ve got nothing against a sense of national pride. I’ve got nothing against young people being committed to volunteering”, he said.
“I’m totally against an un-thought out plan.”
“If the military says it’s bonkers it’s not going to work it’s going to drain our resources, it’s not a good idea.”
IMMIGRATION will be one of the key issues when Sun readers go to the polls next month – so fair play to Keir Starmer for setting out some new ideas to get a grip of the issue.
Labour has too often shied away from raising immigration. Lots of people on the left scream ‘racist’ if you dare so much as raise it.
But the question is not what his members think – it’s whether voters will trust Labour to secure our borders?
In the past, Labour’s unwillingness to talk about immigration meant the Tories had an open goal.
But even Conservatives in Parliament struggle to defend their record.
A few weeks ago, one of their whips asked me if I’d vote for their Rwanda plan to deal with people crossing the Channel.
Of course the boats must be stopped – not least because kids are drowning on the dangerous crossings. They need to crack down hard on the evil criminal scum behind the crossings and smash their business model, but only sending a few hundred to Rwanda is hardly a deterrent.
And I told them I was more worried about the million people they allowed to come to the UK legally last year than the few hundred they want to send to Rwanda!
That is the equivalent of a city the size of Birmingham arriving to live in the UK legally last year.
It is not racist to wonder about the impact on schools and hospitals or to worry where they’ll live when we’re not building enough houses for people living here already.
And this from the party that promised to get immigration down to under 100,000!
With a record like that, it’s no wonder the Tories are struggling in the election.
So I reckon voters will be prepared to give Labour a hearing on immigration this time.
People will welcome his pledge to cut the numbers, but they need to be brought down by hundreds of thousands. Tinkering around the edges won’t do at all.
It’s obvious commonsense that companies caught not paying British workers the minimum wage or flouting health and safety laws should not be allowed to apply for visas to bring staff in from abroad.
And it makes sense to link training and visas too.
Most people think it is completely nuts that firms are allowed to recruit builders, plumbers and electricians from abroad when we’ve got thousands of British youngsters who should be trained up to do those jobs.
And why are we limiting the number of training places for nurses at the same time as bringing in nurses from abroad?
Increase the number of training places, provide proper old-fashioned apprenticeships and give British kids the skills they need to build a proper career.
Keir is right to raise immigration but voters have heard these promises before so woe betide Labour if they don’t deliver.
By former Labour MP Lord Ian Austin
