Should the party pledge to introduce tougher restrictions if it returns to office?
Seven Labour MPs had a letter to Ed Miliband published in yesterday’s Observer which called for a Labour government to limit the free movement of workers from the EU to Britain.
The authors of the letter, which included Labour MPs Frank Field and John Mann, wrote that the “political consequences” of EU migration “could prove catastrophic for our party, unless voters can see we are intent on taking serious action”.
So we want to ask you: is is time for Labour to look again at free movement within the EU? Should the party pledge to introduce tougher restrictions if it returns to office?
Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
7 Responses to “Poll: Should Labour support restrictions on the free movement of workers?”
failquail
Just have free movement within EU states, but with a numbers cap. If a countries immigration cap gets reached, the native-born population gets max-priority, the rest get put on a waiting list.
That way we get free movement within the EU, but without the current drawback of excessive immigration to a country if it becomes too popular…
Taking the current free movement policy to the extreme example: the current EU population could move to just one EU country one after another, overwhelming each country like a locust swarm (no single EU state could cope with the EU’s population) Which is stupid.
There does need to be caps (in at least the short-medium term) for free movement to be viable…
Simon Gatt
If you wish to have free movement of capital and of goods, you need free movement of people. The three go together; none of the three can exist alone. Thus, no, it is not possible to restrict the movement of labour.