Jeremy Corbyn refuses to scapegoat immigrants as the Labour right hands votes to UKIP

[pampango]

Jeremy Corbyn has refused to “fan the flames” of anti-immigration rhetoric in his flagship speech at the Labour conference, stating there will be no immigration cap under a Labour government.

Meanwhile, the Labour right appears to be lighting bonfires. Rachel Reeves MP, who said she’d be tougher than the Tories on benefits in 2013, has warned that the UK could “explode” into riots if immigration is not curbed following the Brexit vote.

But Maya Goodfellow of Media Diversified has her own warning for Reeves and other members of the Labour right who are adopting such rhetoric:

…this kind of mealy-mouthed approach encouraged some to vote for parties that are aggressively anti-migration because they were seen as being able to deal with falsehoods Labour had legitimised.

http://www.thecanary.co/2016/09/28/jeremy-corbyn-refuses-scapegoat-immigrants-labour-right-hands-votes-ukip/

I am glad that the Labour Left (Corbyn) defeated the "Labour Right" for party leadership. In his speech he is sticking to his progressive principles rather than moderating them to appeal to those in the Labour Right. The article presents several Labour Right/UKIP arguments against immigration and the Labour Left's response to them.

The weird thing is that the immigrant population in the UK (11.3%) is lower than in Ireland (15.9%), Sweden (14.3%), Norway (13.8%) and many other progressive countries. Yet the anti-immigrant right (including the Labour Right) has been able to galvanize people by scapegoating immigrants.

List of countries by immigrant population