The Labour leader insisted that the party had not set out to mislead the public over immigration but that the party’s policies had “effects on people right up and down the country” and that not enough was done to protect British workers.
Mr Miliband made the admission in an interview on the first day of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool during which the party is under pressure to admit to mistakes made during its time in Government.
In the interview, the Labour leader also refused to criticise trade unions for threatening to strike in a dispute over pension reform.
Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, was recorded during the last election campaign criticising a pensioner expressing concern over immigration – an incident which is credited with characterising how Labour fell out of touch with the concerns of its supporters.
Yesterday, Mr Miliband was asked if he accepted that Labour had “lied” over the impact of its immigration policies.
“I don’t agree that we lied but I do agree that we got it wrong. I think we underestimated the level of immigration from Poland, which had a big effect on people,” he said[.]
In another interview, he said: “I think we did introduce, we did allow the entry of Poland into the free movement of labour too quickly, and that clearly had effects on people right up and down the country. We’ve clearly got to learn those lessons for the future when it comes to future accession…if you have a more open economy in Europe, you’ve got to put in the right protection for people, for workers.”
The previous Labour Government allowed virtually unchecked immigration from eastern Europe to Britain. » | Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor | Sunday, September 25, 2011
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