MIGRATION numbers would RISE in the short-term under a Labour government, the party’s chairwoman admitted today.
Anneliese Dodds said Labour would take a very different approach to immigration from the current Tory government.
Migration numbers would RISE in the short-term under a Labour government, Anneliese Dodds admitted today
In the short term, Sir Keir Starmer would let workers in to fill shortages in certain sectors.
But then he would try and reduce numbers overall by focusing on more training in the UK.
Ms Dodds told Sky News: “In some areas where there’s a short-term need for skills, you could see in the short term actually people who are coming in increasing in number.
“But in the medium and long-term, a reduction, because we would be training people up in our own country.
“We’ve not had that unfortunately under the Conservatives. We’ve got skills shortages and those shortages are not being filled because there’s not the domestic upskilling that needs to be taking place.”
It comes as net migration is set to hit a whopping one million in the coming weeks.
Rishi Sunak today said immigration to the UK is “too hight”.
But speaking from Japan, where he’s attending the G7 Summit, Mr Sunak refused to commit to bringing down numbers before the next general election.
The 2019 Tory manifesto promised “overall numbers will come down”.
The PM said: “I’m not going to put a precise figure on it but I do want to bring them down.
“The numbers are too high and we want to bring them down. Now, the numbers last year were impacted by the fact that we welcomed Ukrainian refugees to the UK. Again, that’s something I think we are proud of.”
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been publicly pushing for lower immigration, saying more Brits should be trained up as fruit pickers and lorry drivers.
But the PM conceded more seasonal fruit pickers will be allowed into the UK if needed.
