Keir Starmer: he likes to give speeches in industrial settings, claiming to be on the side of workers. But is he actually betraying them by giving employers a way of keep wages low?
The Tories have found a new angle from which to attack Keir Starmer today, claiming he will allow around 100,000 migrants into the UK in return for restoration of a “returns” scheme that would send back those arriving in the UK by non-approved routes.
Here’s Greg Hands:
Labour’s shocking open door policy on immigration.
Labour won’t take the long term decisions to stop the boats and tackle illegal immigration.
Instead deciding to open the doors to 100,000 extra illegal migrants, second-hand from the EU, every year. pic.twitter.com/ffCKRkOwBv
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) September 14, 2023
And here’s Robert Jenrick:
Not content with voting against every one of our measures to stop the boats, Keir Starmer is now opening the door to taking over 100,000 illegal migrants from the safety of the EU.
His ‘plan’ is a recipe for even more illegal migration.
Thread👇🏻 https://t.co/CYgCocao8D
— Robert Jenrick (@RobertJenrick) September 14, 2023
Presumably they’re all at it but I’ve only seen these.
The claim that Starmer is somehow betraying the UK by seeking to negotiate a solution to the channel boat question is undoubtedly good for the Tories. But it is completely daft.
The UK used to have a “returns” policy along the lines suggested by the stories in the Torygraph and Hate Mail but the Tories under Boris Johnson ditched it as part of their childish Brexit. It had worked very well in keeping down the number of people seeking asylum in the UK from abroad.
Not only that, but it has to be remembered that there would not be as many people coming here if the UK had not engaged in numerous adventures in foreign countries that displaced these people in the first place. Whether because of that or domestic issues, they come because they no longer feel safe in their home countries. The solution to that is negotiation with the governments of those countries to restore them to stability.
And it would put a stop to the “criminal gangs” who exploit the people trying to cross the channel into the UK, more effectively than anything the Tories are doing.
So Starmer’s ideas are not beyond reason, as these Tories are painting them.
They are unacceptable to UK employees, though – and here’s the reason.
The country’s labour market is currently stretched to its limit; there simply aren’t enough jobseekers to fill the vacancies available to them. This is partly due to Brexit and the departure of many foreign-born workers back to the European Union.
In such a situation, employees have a stronger hand when negotiating pay deals. If evidence that average pay has increased by 8.5 per cent in the year to summer 2023 is accurate, then someone has been taking advantage of this.
Employers don’t like it. It cuts into their profits (which have been enormous in some cases but they still want it all for themselves).
The Tories have suggested that they would push sick and disabled people to seek jobs, by making the Work Capability Assessment they must take to receive benefits more difficult. The aim is to force a million people onto the jobs market, even though they are actually too infirm to work.
Starmer’s suggested deal with the EU would bring in at least 100,000 people – initially. And they all have to make a living for themselves.
It seems to This Writer that Starmer wants to undercut UK workers’ wage demands by ensuring employers have access to cheap labour from abroad. This is how he is betraying the UK today.
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