No matter how hard Labour tries to demonstrate control over immigration, the right-wing media will keep moving the goalposts, and will almost always favour the headline-grabbing provocateur that is Nigel Farage.
For anyone with even a shred of sympathy for migrants, opposition to anti-immigration policies, or belief in the benefits of immigration, Monday’s front pages made for grim reading.
‘No cap on migrants in Labour’s crackdown,’ blared the Daily Mail.
‘Migrants must wait ten years to become British,’ screamed the Express, with the subhead: “Tories say Starmer is ‘pretending to be tough’ with new immigration crackdown.’
The Telegraph’s headline sparked ridicule for admitting that Brexit has bought about an increase in immigration. “Starmer crackdown will only cut immigration to pre-Brexit levels”
The headlines were in response to Labour’s newly released immigration white paper that includes, in its own words, ‘radical reforms to Britain’s immigration system, restoring control to our borders and reducing record-high levels of net migration.’
They also followed Starmer’s interview in the Sun on Sunday, where he suggested the next general election would be a direct contest with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
Following the comments, Starmer’s interview clip from 2020 when he was campaigning to become Labour leader was circulated by Tories with glee, painting him as soft on immigration and therefore hypocritical. Starmer had said: “Conservatives have created this hostile environment… we should welcome people wherever they come from…”
The right-wing press knows that when it comes to immigration, Labour will never out-tough Reform. and they’re revelling in it.
Take the morning’s broadcast round on May 12, when Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, appeared across networks demanding “net zero immigration.”
The reality is that no matter how hard Labour tries to demonstrate control over immigration, the right-wing press will keep moving the goalposts, and will almost always favour the headline-grabbing provocateur that is Nigel Farage.
As Labour MP Nadia Whittome put it in Labour List: ‘We’ll never out-Farage Farage on migration – and it’d be wrong to try.’
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