THE prospect that a Labour Government could retain free movement of people post Brexit has been raised after a Shadow Cabinet minister refused to rule it out.
The Labour Party wants to negotiate an arrangement where people who live and work in the European Union can continue to do so and EU citizens who live and work in the UK can continue to do so, explained Andrew Gwynne, the Shadow Communities Secretary.
But when pressed on whether the Labour manifesto would promise that freedom of movement would end, he replied: “I'll be able to answer more clearly this time next week".
Quizzed on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show as to how Labour's position differed from allowing freedom of movement after being shown a clip of party leader Jeremy Corbyn saying: "I want to make sure that all those European nationals do remain here, can come here, will stay here," Mr Gwynne said: “Well, of course, these would be bespoke reciprocal arrangements that will allow, for example, British students to access the European education system."
Pushed further on Labour's policy, the frontbencher said: "These would be bilateral agreements. There are people who live and work in the European Union who are British citizens and there are European Union citizens who live and work in the United Kingdom and what we want to negotiate is an arrangement where that can continue."
The Labour Party is looking at "reciprocal arrangements" with the EU that would allow British citizens to enjoy some of the freedoms they did now, explained the Shadow Secretary of State.
Questioned once more on how the Labour Party's interpretation of freedom of movement differed from the EU's definition, Mr Gwynne replied: "Well, let's see what's in the manifesto after Clause Five[senior Labour figures who will draw up the manifesto this Saturday] but I've been very clear we are looking at reciprocal agreements with the EU27 that allow British citizens to enjoy some of the freedoms that they will lose as a result of Brexit."
Mr Gwynne then refused to confirm or deny whether the Labour Party's manifesto would repeat the line from its 2017 manifesto, which said "freedom of movement will end".
He added: "Well, I'll be able to answer more clearly this time next week."
In response, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, commented: “For the second time in a week, Corbyn’s Labour have confirmed they want to see uncontrolled and unlimited immigration, whatever the results of the two chaotic referendums they want next year.
“The choice at this election is between a Conservative majority Government that will get Brexit done and deliver on the people’s priorities like controlling immigration or a weak coalition headed by Corbyn in a gridlocked Parliament that refuses to control immigration.”
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