Britain would become ‘magnet for illegal migrants’ under Labour, claims Home Secretary
BRITAIN would become a “magnet for illegal migrants” under Labour, the Home Secretary has claimed.
James Cleverly yesterday slammed Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to cut arrivals as both parties ramped up their attacks on border security.
He insisted Sir Keir has a “track record” of supporting “high immigration levels” and is just saying what people want to hear.
The Cabinet minister’s comments were echoed by several other Tory figures.
They pointed to a letter during his 2020 Labour leadership campaign, in which Sir Keir pledged to defend migrant rights, support free movement and close immigration detention centres.
Mr Cleverly said: “This is yet another day where Starmer will say what he thinks people want to hear during an election because he lacks conviction to say what he believes.
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“A Labour government would allow open-door immigration, making the UK a magnet for illegal migrants.”
Sir Keir had said he would curb net migration by passing laws to crack down on “bad bosses” hiring foreigners and by training more Brits.
But neither he nor Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have committed to specific targets or deadlines.
Ms Cooper told the BBC Labour will not do so because when the Tories have set a target, they have “just ended up being totally all over the place”.
Pushed for an estimation on how much Labour wants to lower migration, Ms Cooper said: “We clearly want to see significant changes in place because we have seen the numbers treble.”