The UK’s home secretary emphasised the importance of “managed” immigration while vowing to bolster the country’s ability to protect its borders.
Yvette Cooper told the Labour party conference that “net migration has trebled because overseas recruitment has soared as training has been cut right back”, adding that “a serious government knows that immigration is important”.
She flagged Labour’s investment in “covert operations” to go after the gangs responsible for trafficking migrants to the UK illegally.
Cooper also criticised the previous Conservative government’s controversial Rwanda scheme to deport some migrants. “Instead of spending £700mn employing 1,000 people to send four volunteers to Rwanda”, Labour was investing in the UK’s borders “because it’s better than standing on the shoreline shouting at the sea”.
