Local MP Caroline Dinenage highlighted the previous Labour Government’s dreadful record on immigration during Prime Minister's Question Time.
Caroline asked whether the Prime Minister agrees with the recent comments of Lord Glasman – special adviser to Ed Miliband - that the previous Labour Government lied to the British people over the extent of immigration.
The Prime Minister responded by noting “that the last Government did not tell it straight to people about what was happening on immigration and that it has fallen to this Government to take the steps to get the numbers under control. Indeed, Lord Glasman said something that I have said many times, which is that under the last Government there was ‘very hard rhetoric combined with a very loose policy’ and that was the worst approach of all.”
In an interview with the May edition of Progress Magazine, Lord Glasman, an academic who was made a peer by the Labour leader in the new year’s honors list also said that Gordon Brown’s ministers had acted in a ‘high handed way” by refusing to discuss the issue.
Immigration under Labour's watch spiralled out of control. While they were in power, their "open-door" policy allowed net immigration to rise to 2.2 million; and the influx of new arrivals undoubtedly put considerable strain on jobs and services
This is in direct contrast with this Government’s plans to actively tackle the problems with the immigration system. The Prime Minister has promised to control immigration and bring net migration down to the sustainable levels we saw in the 1980s and 1990s.
Caroline also said “Unlike Labour, this Government does not shy away from the crucial issues and I am pleased that we have already put in place measures to reduce net migration down from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands a year.”