Labour Will Introduce an Immigration Bill in its First Queen’s Speech

Most people in this country want an immigration system that reflects their values of fairness and responsibility, which is why I welcome Ed Miliband’s announcement this week, that Labour will introduce an Immigration Bill in its first Queen’s Speech.

Most people in this country want an immigration system that reflects their values of fairness and responsibility, which is why I welcome Ed Miliband’s announcement this week, that Labour will introduce an Immigration Bill in its first Queen’s Speech.

It’s vital that we seek to tackle the concerns that people have about the impact on wages when large numbers of low skilled workers come here, about the pace of change in communities, including the pressure on scarce resources in public services, and about the security of our borders.

Labour understands that these are real issues, and we are ready to act on them. That is why Ed Miliband has changed Labour’s approach on immigration. He has set out clear, credible and concrete change on immigration that will be in Labour's first Queen's Speech.

5 Labour priorities on immigration:

• Action to ensure that when people cross our borders they are counted – in and out – so we know who is here, who has gone home and who has stayed so we can deal with illegal immigration.
• Making it a criminal offence to exploit workers, wherever they come from, with the aim of illegally undercutting wages or conditions here.
• Preventing recruitment agencies hiring only from abroad and those that allow them to exploit loopholes to undercut directly employed staff.
• Requiring any large employer who hires a skilled worker from outside the EU to train apprentices here.
• Ensuring that public sector workers in public-facing roles have minimum standards of English.