Jeremy Corbyn: Labour wants ‘fair immigration based on the needs of our society’
Written by News on 21/05/2017
Jeremy Corbyn has said that the Labour Party’s immigration policy would reflect "fair immigration based on the needs of our society".
Speaking to Sophy Ridge On Sunday, Mr Corbyn refused to give a direct response to the question on whether there should be more or less immigration post-Brexit several times.
Giving no decisive answer, the Labour leader said: "Freedom of movement obviously ends when you leave the European Union because it’s a condition of the membership."
He also said Labour would make sure that EU nationals would be able to remain in Britain and "recognise the enormous contribution made by those who have come to this country in our NHS, education and transport industries".
In the interview he also defended his associations with IRA linked rallies in the 1980s, saying "I wanted to bring about peace in Northern Ireland. You have to talk to people with whom you don’t agree. And I did."
Mr Corbyn also reiterated his party’s commitment to ensuring the pension triple lock, ending the freeze on working age benefits, free school meals, improving public housing and ending tuition fees.
When asked if he was going to win the election, Mr Corbyn said: "It’s going very well, large numbers of people are flocking to join the Labour Party and join in our campaigns."
The seemingly positive response to many of the Labour party’s proposed domestic policies is in stark contrast to the mounting criticism of Theresa May’s proposed overhaul of social care funding.
The social care changes, outlined in the Conservative manifesto, would make elderly people liable for the costs of care they receive at home.
The payment would come from their own assets after death, with only the last £100,000 of their estates ring-fenced.
A Survation poll in the Mail on Sunday suggested 47% of respondents opposed the proposals, and 28% said it made them less likely to vote Conservative.
Mrs May has insisted the plans are intended to ensure fairness across generations and ensure the long-term sustainability of the social care system.
But in addition to attacks from Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the proposals have also come in for criticism from some within the Conservative ranks.
Conservative think-tank, The Bow Group, described it as a "stealth tax", and Sarah Wollaston who was the Conservative Chair of the Health Select Committee in the last parliament has said it could encourage people to stay in hospitals, if they felt they could not afford special care at home.
Mr Corbyn has accused Mrs May of attempting to set young against old, creating a "war between the generations".
"The message is getting through. Get on any bus, get on any train, go in any cafe, talk to people. The whole discussion and the whole debate is unravelling from the Tory point of view", he told a rally in Birmingham.
:: General Election 2017: Where the parties stand on the key issues
It all comes as opinion polls in both the Mail on Sunday and The Sunday Times, the first to be published since the manifesto launch, suggest Labour is chipping away at the Conservative lead.
The latest Survation poll puts the Conservatives at 46% and Labour at 34% – a 12 point difference that has closed by five points over a week.
In the Sunday Times a YouGov poll put the Conservatives at 44% and Labour at 35% – reducing the gap to single digits for the first time since the snap election was called.
This apparent trend would represent an improvement on the 30.4% of the vote received by Ed Miliband in the 2015 general election, if borne out on 8 June.
However, there have been words of caution from within the Labour Party, with candidate Lucy Powell writing on Twitter "let’s not over-analyse the polls. Either way".
Shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer rejected the idea that improving on the 2015 vote share would constitute a success.
"We are in a first-past-the-post system, therefore we measure success in the number of seats… establishing a reasonable vote share if your rival gets much more of a vote share just doesn’t do it" he told the Guardian.
Meanwhile, Labour’s former deputy prime minister John Prescott has shown his support of the Labour leader in The Sunday Mirror, describing Mr Corbyn as transforming into "a prime minister in waiting".
Lord Prescott also hailed the programme unveiled by Mr Corbyn on Tuesday as "the best manifesto Labour has published since 1997".
:: Watch Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News at 10am this morning to see the full interview with Jeremy Corbyn.
:: And don’t forget to watch it on Sky News: The Battle For Number 10 on Bank Holiday Monday, 29 May, at 8.30pm.
(c) Sky News 2017: Jeremy Corbyn: Labour wants ‘fair immigration based on the needs of our society’
