Tom Watson: Labour plans 'liberal' immigration policy for London but tougher controls in other parts of UK

Hatty Collier13 February 2017
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Labour could support a liberal immigration policy in London with tougher controls in other parts of the UK, Tom Watson has said.

The deputy leader of the party said the idea was being discussed but was not yet ready for a manifesto.

Speaking on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show, Mr Watson said the party’s solution to immigration after Britain’s exit from the EU was at an early stage.

When asked by Marr if he thought immigration should be higher or lower, Mr Watson said: “London requires more liberal immigration policies but there are other parts of the country where immigration maybe putting pressure on public services like schools and hospitals.

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson as he appears on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show.
PA

“And that’s why I think that when we come out of the European Union, we can have an immigration policy that maybe addresses both those issues.”

Marr went on to ask if he was referring to different immigration policies for different parts of the country.

He replied: “These are nascent ideas, we’re not ready to make them robust in a manifesto yet but they’re certainly the debate that is going on in the Labour party right now and in wider circles.”

During the interview, Mr Watson also denied the Labour party was vetting potential leadership successors to Jeremy Corbyn.

Rising party stars including Angela Rayner and Rebecca Long-Bailey were said to have been assessed for popularity as part of internal "succession planning", according to The Sunday Times.

The paper also suggested leaked documents gave a scathing assessment of the embattled Labour leader, who was found to be "boring" and "fed up" by focus groups.

It also cited polling in the leaked document that rated veteran left-winger Mr Corbyn as the least popular of all current party leaders, including Ukip's Paul Nuttall, who is standing in the upcoming Stoke-on-Trent central by-election.

Mr Watson said: "I only saw this story last night. People tell me that isn't the case, it wasn't road testing leadership candidates. There was a range of shadow cabinet members that were so-called road tested, this is what we do in our normal run of political consultations.

"I'm just slightly relieved they weren't road testing me on the document that was leaked to the newspaper."

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