Prime Minister Andy Burnham has refused to say Britain's immigration levels are too high, instead claiming the UK still needs overseas workers to fill "gaps in the economy" despite 2.3 million Brits currently out of work.
That figure includes 1.7 million unemployed people alongside 600,000 young Brits classed as "economically inactive" who are not looking for a job. Burnham made the comments in an interview set to air on ITV Tonight on Tuesday.
PM dodges border question
Grilled over border numbers, the Labour leader dodged the question and insisted legal migration has "come right down." Burnham said: "I think when you have planned migration, it's difficult to say is it too high or too low, because it's got to be, if you like, following gaps in the economy."
"Because if you just put a number on it, then we may have a shortage in a certain area." The PM said immigration - both legal and illegal - was "in a much better place than it was."
He said: "Because boat crossings are down and net migration overall is down and down quite significantly. So there's a much better control of it."
Free movement discussion
Burnham, who has called for a discussion about the possibility of a return to free movement with the European Union, added: "What I have argued is that migration and illegal immigration changed significantly with Brexit. And I think we've got to be honest about that."
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out changes to immigration today, but planned reforms have reportedly been watered down. Her proposed changes were criticised by many Labour MPs as well as Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, and Burnham has also privately urged her to make changes, according to The Express.
Care worker visa concerns
She wanted to make it harder for immigrants to receive indefinite leave to remain, also known as settled status, so that many had to wait ten years or longer, up from five years today. People with indefinite leave to remain can claim benefits and are eligible to use public services similarly to British citizens.
Possible changes could include excluding care workers from the new, tougher rules. But ministers have admitted the Government doesn't know what people given care worker visas are actually doing.
Home Office Minister Jo White warned many of the 600,000 migrants given permission to work in the care sector may be doing something else. She said the visa handout was "a scandal."
Speaking on a panel during the Labour conference, White said employers were encouraged to become "sponsors" to obtain visas for foreign staff after the UK left the EU in 2020. She said: "The biggest concern we've had is the number of sponsors that were issued to the social care sector."
The Conservative government at the time expected 40,000 foreign care workers to come but "in fact over 600,000 arrived," she said. "And there is no real sense that they are actually working in the social care sector."
She said: "Where those workers have gone is a cause of concern. Some are continuing to work for those employers. Some have gone off [doing] we know not what."
