The Labour MP for Dover and Deal has said working class concerns over immigration are ‘valid’.

Mike Tapp also defended the government’s scrapping of the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners.

Speaking on GB News Mike Tapp said:

“We went over [to the US] in January, a group of candidates at the time, to learn from the Americans and the Democrats and looking at their campaign methods, etc.

“We went back out after our landslide victory, to impart some of our knowledge as to what we learnt on the campaign trail, and look at what they’re doing with their campaign.

“One of the big messages that I was taking over there was to ensure that with their campaign, they do what we did, and that is, listen to what working class, hard working people want. Don’t ignore them. And for me in Dover and Deal, a perfect example of that is worries and concerns around immigration.

“These people have valid concerns. They’re not racist, we must drop that sort of rhetoric and deal with these issues, just like Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper are doing.

“And it does look like Kamala and her team are going down that route as well, which is great.

“Those voters who are concerned about immigration haven’t been ignored by me or by the party, and you can see that already with our immigration policy. “Remember, it’s only 50 days and there is a common sense approach to this: it doesn’t happen overnight.

“We’ve started recruiting for the new border security commander. We’ve already recruited over a hundred new intelligent officers who are working across Europe. We’ve conducted nine deportation flights. We’re looking at a thousand officers being bought into a specific deportation unit.

“So there’s a hell of a lot of work going on behind the scenes, but these things do take time to have a real impact.

“Rwanda was a gimmick that cost a hell of a lot of money that was wasted, and it would have taken up to a hundred years to deport those that have crossed in that way, it simply wasn’t a deterrent.

“You could argue that we’re 25% lower because of the first 50 days in government, but that’s not the case, right? Let’s be realistic here. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and the deterrent that we bring in is twofold.

“Firstly, we’re going to smash the gangs. We’re bringing in the likes of MI5 with those extra powers and tools.

“I’ve worked against serious and organised criminals with the National Crime Agency, but also in a counter terror role, so I’ve seen the difference that those extra powers and tools made. So bringing in MI5 to this fight will have a big impact.

“Of course, it’s not the full answer, but we will be their worst nightmare. Of course, it takes time to pursue and bring these evil criminals to justice, and a part of that also is disruption. It’s not all about sticking them in prison as much as we’d love to do that.

“Meeting that evidential threshold is often very difficult, but there are methods to disrupt these operations too. And if we’re deporting more that shouldn’t be here, which we already are, that acts as a deterrent in itself.

“So we have inherited a mess, the highest tax burden since the Second World War, and borrowing is at its highest since the 1960s, plus this black hole that we’ve inherited as a surprise.

“The money that we’re investing in the Border Security Command is all fully funded by scrapping this gimmick Rwanda scheme. And when it comes to things like winter fuel payments, I have a lot of sympathy with that, but they are targeted and means tested, so those that do need it will receive it.

“I must talk about the long term plan here, so there’s short term support for people. The reason this is happening is because we’ve inherited an energy system that essentially means, when there are the likes of Putin, who are causing the disruption that they do, the energy prices go up.

“If we can go fully renewable by 2030 which is our ambition, it does give us more control over those prices. So we do have long term plans here as well. And this is why Keir Starmer is going to be really clear that we are inheriting a mess. And it’s not easy.

“So this takes time, and wind is a part of the solution. There’s also obviously nuclear and what we’re looking at doing is creating essentially a self-sustained energy system so the likes of Putin can’t have control over our energy prices.

“But in the short term there are pension credits and winter fuel help for those that need the help desperately.

“So this is a really positive way forward that will not only bring down costs, but also create thousands of jobs and growth.

“I come from a military background before going into serious crime and counter terror work, and we do need to raise that funding for the military. And Keir Starmer has actually been really clear that the ambition is to get to 2.5%.

“The Conservatives didn’t get to 2.5% either and they had 14 years. So we’re not going to sit here and make promises that we can’t deliver because the public are fed up of that.

“So what we’re saying is, when we fiscally can, we will raise that threshold to 2.5% and that’s really important that we’re realistic with that.”