Labour under hard-left socialist Jeremy Corbyn has backed Britain effectively being turned into an open borders state, with the party planning to offer votes, free healthcare, and benefits to an uncontrolled number of migrants.
On Wednesday, Labour’s conference voted to effectively scrap all current and proposed immigration controls and end deportations if it comes to power in the next General Election.
Jeremy Corbyn will promise in his election manifesto that if he becomes the next prime minister, he will not only retain freedom of movement with the EU post-Brexit — if the United Kingdom leaves the EU before the next election — but “maintain and extend free movement rights” by opening Britain’s borders to the rest of the world.
Ripping up “the current Tory immigration legislation and any curbing of [migrants’] rights”, the party vows to “campaign for free movement, equality, and rights of migrants”.
Britain’s few (nine, in total) detention centres, which hold illegal aliens, bogus asylum seekers, and foreign criminals before expulsion, will be closed. A formalisation of chain migration will be introduced with Labour ensuring the “unconditional right to family reunion”.
In effect, there will be no immigration “system”, as Corbyn’s party has said it will “reject” any immigration policy “based on incomes, migrants’ utility to business, and number caps/targets”.
Further, in ominous and vague wording, the motion passed also said Labour would “actively challenge anti-immigrant narratives” — which could be interpreted to mean expanding the definition of hate speech to include criticism of mass migration, cracking down on academic, press, and online freedoms.
The democratic direction of the country would also be completely and permanently altered, with the party backing extending the voting franchise for national elections to foreigners living in the United Kingdom, which the far-left party referred to as “extending equal rights to vote”.
Currently, three million EU citizens live in the United Kingdom. If a Corbyn victory is delivered before Brexit Day and Labour makes good on it pledges to give non-British citizens the right to vote in national polls and to hold a second vote on EU membership, the referendum would almost certainly result in a Remain victory.
Shadow home secretary Dianne Abbott, who in a Corbyn government would be in charge of immigration and security policy, said of the passed motion: “Be assured, our plans for government include these provisions and a lot more, to make this country a better, more decent, and more prosperous place.”
In a statement, chairman of the think tank Migration Watch UK Alp Mehmet said of Labour’s proposed total abolishment of immigration controls: “This is a foolhardy call for completely uncontrolled mass immigration as well as for the dismantling of any effective means of removal. Thirty million UK adults — or 60 per cent — wish to see immigration reduced. If these reckless policies ever reach the statute book, we will all rue the day, especially the most vulnerable in our society.”
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage also responded to the proposals, saying: “Labour is now officially the party of open door mass migration without control. Old Labour voters will be appalled by this.”
Fellow Brexit Party MEP Martin Daubney added: “The Labour Party has just announced it will throw open our borders to the world. No immigration targets, no points-based system, but a red carpet to anybody, anywhere to come to the UK. Never has a political party been so out of touch with the public.”
After Labour embraced a second referendum on EU membership, with senior figures pushing for Corbyn to formally endorse Remain or cancel Brexit outright, the party had left its five million Brexit voters feeling betrayed.
However, a study found that rather than flocking to to the Conservatives, headed by Boris Johnson, Labour Leavers in particular are more likely to switch the Brexit Party — which is urging the Conservatives to stand aside in Leave-voting Labour seats to secure a Leave majority in a future election, so far without success.