A Labour MP who leads the caucus of “Red Wall” Labour MPs has criticised Angela Rayner for her comments over indefinite leave to remain.
Speaking on GB News Jo White said: “I think Shabana Mahmood is absolutely right to be tough. I went over to France in December just to see what was happening, and obviously I got lobbied about more money.
“But at the time, they’d stopped intervening because they didn’t really know how to deal with the taxi boats. They could deal with the boats leaving the shore, but the methodology by the criminal gangs has changed, and because they knew they were being beaten by the French police.
“So she’s right to demand tougher action, and she’s right to go into negotiations to say, if you don’t stop those boats, this is what British people are demanding right across the country. It’s a top priority.
“We’ve got to stop those people potentially dying but also it’s protecting our borders.
“Shabana is the boss, she’s telling [the Home Office], and that’s exactly how it should be.
“With illegal migration the majority of the party are with us, because we get that all the time on the doorsteps. And I think people are sick and tired of hotels in their constituencies and HMOs and we’ve got to sort out that those large numbers come in.
“That’s what the gangs are doing, they’re selling that ticket. So we’ve got to get a lot tougher, stop illegal working, throwing them back out the country if they’re caught doing that. We’ve got the Border Command now, I know he’s just resigned but that’s because he hasn’t done the job as effectively as he should.
“But we have the structures there now to be much tougher. I believe we can be even more tougher than that.
“I think we should actually process those claims at the nearest point of safety, because that breaks the model. So in the Middle East or the Horn of Africa. So you process those claims there. They have to stay there and if anybody’s caught coming here on a boat, they’re sent straight back to where those claims should be processed.
“I don’t think they should even be allowed to come to Calais. They have to be processed as far away as possible, and then that breaks that model completely.
“[controlling legal migration] is a priority right across the country. Under the previous government we had over 2 million people arrive, most of those disappeared into the system. There were meant to be 40,000 care jobs. Most people came over, supposedly, for care jobs and they disappeared off into the system.
“We have to deal with it, and that’s the demand of people in this country and one of the ways we can do that is extending indefinite leave to remain.
“Obviously, if you are in a well paid profession, or you’re working in the NHS, then perhaps that indefinite leave to remain should be shortened, because we need those people.
“But where they’re not contributing, then this isn’t the place for them
“Where care homes are saying, hey, we haven’t got enough people, we’re saying, well, there’s a big group of people here.
“But the fundamental thing is that we’ve got to professionalise the care service. We’ve got to raise wages so it’s a place where people want to work. We’ve got a million young people out of work at the moment. There are jobs there for them, and we’ve got to make sure that the care sector, for example, works effectively so there’s good jobs, well paid jobs and good training so there’s a good career there.
“We develop jobs, we create the training and the opportunities where there’s gaps in skills, for example, welding. We’re bringing people into this country to welding. We need more British trained welders to fill those skills gaps.
“Angela Rayner, when she was deputy leader, she actually signed off this legislation. So it’s something she agreed at a certain point and all of a sudden, she’s forgotten about it.
“It’s about politics, isn’t it? It’s a game she’s playing, and I think she should be called out on it.
“I don’t think there should be a leadership contest right now. We’re not in the right place for anything like that.”