Sir Keir Starmer's immigration plan sounds all too familiar — we've heard it five times before
Action, not talk
SIR Keir Starmer's eagerly-awaited sermon on cutting immigration had a familiar ring to it.
He sounded like a tribute act to the last five Tory leaders, as he vowed to 'take back control of our borders'.
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All their classic one-liners were there as he said he would ' reduce immigration significantly ' and insisted: 'That's a promise'.
But voters have heard it all before and will wonder if he has the will to match his rhetoric with action.
After all, in opposition Sir Keir opposed every immigration crackdown and now wants us to believe he has all the answers.
One area where he offered nothing new at all was how to halt the rising tide of illegal boat migrants — hundreds of whom landed while he was in mid-speech.
For all his talk of ' smashing the gangs ', Labour has done little to deter foreign nationals prepared to risk their lives to enter Britain.
Indeed, his first act on entering Number 10 was to declare the Rwanda deportation scheme 'dead and buried'.
The Prime Minister talks about tightening visa restrictions but it is little comfort to families living near asylum hotels who see TV pictures almost every week of small boats filled with illegal migrants landing near Dover.
There IS much to welcome in the blueprint — particularly the long overdue admission that Britain must break its addiction to cheap foreign labour which, the Government finally conceded, is not a boost to economic growth.
Sir Keir is right, too, to point out the danger of Britain becoming an 'island of strangers', such is the unmanageable pace of change in our towns and cities.
But with net migration at 728,000 last year, his planned cut of only 100,000 is unlikely to convince the public that — at long last — Labour has got a grip.
Time to say 'no'
THE Chancellor has refused the many calls to restore the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.
So we trust she will show similar resolve when dealing with the pay demands of sabre-rattling nurses and junior doctors.
Rachel Reeves 's predecessors know too well the folly of pouring cash into the NHS black hole without reform.
The Royal College of Nursing is threatening strikes unless it gets a major pay hike to counter a 25 per cent 'erosion' over 25 years.
And barely a year after winning a 22 per cent uplift for junior doctors, the British Medical Association has warned of a six-month campaign of walkouts unless it gets a 10 per cent hike.
To hold out against pensioners while shovelling still more cash to Labour's union pals would be indefensible.
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