Jeremy Corbyn today admitted there is “real pressure” on some communities caused by mass immigration as the Labour leader made a long-awaited speech urging Britons to remain in the European Union.
The Left-winger said it was not “racist” for people to feel concerned about “disconcerting” local changes but said they should blame the Government and not the EU.
His comments followed pressure from a chorus of MPs and a trade union leader to speak up more loudly on the issue or risk a low turnout of Labour voters in heartland areas, potentially costing the Remain camp victory in the referendum.
“Some communities can change dramatically and rapidly and that can be disconcerting for some people,” he said.
“That doesn’t make them Little Englanders, xenophobes or racists. More people living in an area can put real pressure on local services like GPs surgeries, schools and housing.”
In other key developments in the EU battle today:
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Tory former Defence Secretary Liam Fox said “uncontrolled immigration” from the EU was threatening the Green Belt and said Britons would “pay a much more subtle and long-term price than money can measure” without curbs.
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A senior Leave economist, Sir Patrick Minford, admitted that there “certainly would” be higher tariffs on British goods sold in Europe if the UK votes for Brexit. Remain campaigners said his admission showed jobs would be lost.
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Cultural figures including Arsenal football manager Arsene Wenger, Abba pop star Bjorn Ulvaeus and chef Raymond Blanc wrote a “love letter” to British voters urging: “Britain, please stay.”
Mr Corbyn, speaking in central London, also insisted that the blame lay not with migrants or with EU free movement but with the Government, and he urged people to embrace the benefits of European protection for worker rights, consumers and a cleaner environment.
He stressed: “It is not migrants that undercut wages but unscrupulous employers.”
Before his speech, former Chancellor Lord (Alistair) Darling said immigration was “an issue that must be discussed”. And former shadow cabinet member Mary Creagh warned: “The danger is a Labour leader making a speech and thinking everybody has heard it.”
The head of one of the biggest unions said the Remain campaign risked losing the June 23 referendum unless Labour did more to make its voters turn out at the polls.
GMB boss Tim Roache said Labour had been “silent” on key issues and needed to be “bolder and braver” in making the case for immigration. “The reality is that the more people that stay at home, the more likely it is that we will leave the EU,” he said.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith said Mr Roache was “right” about “the danger that Labour voters will see this as something that Tories have been banging on about for the last 30 years and not something that bothers them”.
He added: “Jeremy agrees with him, which is why he is making a really big speech today. I will be urging Jeremy to redouble his efforts.”
Mr Corbyn has previously criticised Ed Miliband’s election campaign mugs promising tougher migration controls as “appalling” and he made clear he would not revive the policy.
“We cannot and should not want to close the borders, not for European citizens wanting to come here, tens of thousands of whom work in our NHS, and not for British citizens who want to take advantage of opportunities elsewhere in Europe,” the Labour leader said.
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