Corbyn finally said something and I’m not impressed

News flash; Jeremy Corbyn emerged from his ferret hole in North London and made a speech! He must have read my article about how he needed to get his act together and talk positively about immigration. As if I were felix’s de facto Labour immigration policy correspondent, I have returned to give a judgement on JC’s words.

The summary is that despite wanting to remain in the single market, Corbyn is not opposed to ending freedom of movement, which he has claimed Labour “is not wedded to”. Somehow he has taken on lack of enthusiasm as a political stance. He has compromised on his positivity towards immigrants in order to appeal to working class voters who showed their dissatisfaction with the status quo at the ballot box last year. The result is a point of view that is not particularly exciting – much like his arguments for remaining in the EU last June – but he seems to think that the anti-establishment overtones will invigorate the people. This remains to be seen.

He also pointed out the things about the EU that he hopes Brexit will consign to the past – for example, state aid laws that stop us helping the steel sector – but we always knew he was not keen on the European project. It is good he is still talking about making changes in Labour laws, in particular taking action against undercutting of pay and conditions, as that is a more constructive approach to eliminating immigration problems than closing borders.

It’s rather novel for immigration to be hot on the lips of Labour politicians. MPs Emma Reynolds and Stephen Kinnock were in the news suggesting the introduction of a two-tier immigration system, in which highly skilled workers would be treated differently to low-skilled workers. This potentially sounds reasonable since we do not want to put off skilled immigrants from finding work in Britain, although I still need convincing it would work in practice. I also read about suggestions for a ‘London visa’ in the Evening Standard, which sounded quite off the wall, but at least it acknowledges that metropolitan areas feel differently about immigration to the rest, and that even if more border controls are brought in, we should think about ways to help our successful firms employ from the pool of talent around Europe and beyond. Jeremy Corbyn has been leader of the party for over a year, and only now has he come up with a strategy. Well, better late than never. It seems like a reaction to the threat posed to him by Paul Nuttall, new leader of UKIP, who has his eyes on Labour’s Northern and Midlands heartlands. If his tenure kicks Corbyn into action, maybe it will be a good thing for all of us.