Angela Rayner has branded Labour’s immigration crackdown ‘un-British’, sparking a party civil war as Andy Burnham backs her and ministers are left squirming.
Thomas-Symonds admitted he hadn’t read Rayner’s remarks (Image: Sky News)
A Labour Minister has been left squirming after he was confronted on former Deputy Prime Minister Anelga Rayner’s claim it was ‘un-British’ to clamp down on immigration. Speaking this morning Nick Thomas-Symonds, a government minister, said he shared the “impatience with the pace of change” Ms Rayner spoke of, but was forced to admit he had not seen the “full context” of the broadside from her.
Last night the disgraced former Deputy PM, who was forced out of her post when it emerged she had not paid the right amount of stamp duty on her Brighton pad, took aim at her party’s recently announced immigration plans. It came after Shabana Mahmod, the Home Secretary, announced reforms which would save billions by stopping immigrants getting quick access to healthcare and homes.
Ms Rayner said: “Enforcing a fair deal is not the same as ripping up a deal halfway through. Many people came here to Britain on the understanding that if they’ve worked in the sectors where we needed them, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, that they could stay. If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those that have planned their lives and commitments and they’re contributing to our economy and to our society. That would not just be bad policy, but a breach of trust.”
She went on to blast the move as un-patriotic saying: “We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goal posts, because moving the goal post undermines our sense of fair play. It’s un-British.” But this morning she left open-mouthed ministers scrabbling to defend the government under questioning from journalists.
Mr Thomas-Symonds was asked if he agreed with Ms Rayner that Labour is going “through the motions in the face of decline”, Cabinet office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told Sky News: “I think where I would agree, and I think everybody across Government would agree, is sharing an impatience with the pace of change, and that applies to every single one of us.
“And I get the sense, I haven’t read the full context of Angela’s remarks, but I get the sense that that frustration is actually what is running through her remarks. It absolutely runs through every Government minister as well.”
Rayner: moving goalposts on migrants is ‘un-British’ (Image: Getty)
But he fell short of agreeing with her other claims, made last night at a left-wing think tank event, where she said “it’s our job to show the British people whose side we’re on. Like other social democratic parties across the West, the very survival of the Labour Party is at stake. And it’s that serious for us, because political parties do not have the right to exist.”
Mr Thomas-Symonds was forced to defend Ms Mahmood’s immigration reforms as “balancing up fairness, but also security at our borders” when asked about Ms Rayner’s criticism of them. He declined repeatedly to say whether he thought Ms Rayner would make a good party leader, stressing that there is “no vacancy” for the role.
It comes after last night’s attack on Sir Keir Starmer from one of his most powerful backbenchers, Angela Rayner, saw other rivals of the PM coming out swinging. Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, took aim at the PM this morning, expressing his support for the comments, as a civil war in the Labour Party once again erupted.