EU citizens would have to compete on a level playing field with migrants from other countries after Brexit under a future Labour government, Diane Abbott has suggested.
The Shadow Home Secretary unveiled a plan to create a reformed immigration system after Britain left the EU, declaring : “People should be treated equally and fairly."
Non-EU citizens, including those from Commonwealth nations, were being treated as second-class migrants" under the current system, Ms Abbott said in a keynote address in London.
"Once trade deals have been struck and established, there will be no unequal treatment based on which countries people are coming from.
"A fully qualified doctor from Pakistan will be treated just like a fully qualified doctor from Poland, and vice versa. The same is true of how we will allocate work visas and the rights that will be attached to them," she explained.
The Labour frontbencher attacked the Conservative Government’s aim to bring net immigration below 100,000 a year by insisting economic needs must guide policy, not "meaningless and arbitrary targets".
She said a reformed immigration system was needed to put prosperity and jobs first.
Ms Abbott called for a more flexible work visa scheme to ensure the UK attracted people with key skills from across the globe.
"Sadly at the current time, we have a class system for migrants. Commonwealth migrants and other non-EU migrants are treated in a way that is tantamount to making them second-class migrants.
"They struggle to bring partners or spouses here. They have to meet minimum income targets. They can lose their right to residency simply by travelling home for family reasons.
"It's not fair, it's not humane, it's not reasonable,” declared the London MP.
"Labour will end the established system of first and second-class migrants. And we will do so, not by treating EU migrants as appallingly as Commonwealth and other non-EU migrants have been treated for a long time. We will end the first and second-class system by treating everyone fairly."
The Shadow Home Secretary said that after Brexit EU citizens already in the UK should retain the rights they already enjoyed.
She attacked Government policy for using Europeans as "bargaining chips", adding: "Anyone who arrived here under the freedom of movement provisions up to our exit from Brexit must continue to be accorded those same rights going forward.
"We also demand the same for our citizens in the EU. This is a reciprocal and an equal relationship," she added.
In response, Caroline Nokes, the Immigration Minister, claimed Ms Abbott had made clear that Labour could not be trusted to control immigration.
"Labour have no interest in getting control of our borders as we leave the EU and today said they would tear up the rules for people coming from outside the EU which would allow more low-skilled immigration.
"For years, Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott have talked down those with concerns at every single opportunity.
"Only the Conservatives will end free movement and build a fair and controlled immigration system. That means getting control of our borders, whilst continuing to attract the brightest and the best,” she added.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel