WATCH: Labour MPs heckle Chris Philp as he claims Tories have a 'new approach to immigration'

GB News

Labour MPs erupted with laughter in the Commons today as Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp claimed the Conservatives were taking a "new approach to immigration".The explosive clash came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper unveiled Labour's immigration crackdown plans.READ THE FULL STORY HERE

Transcript

00:00Home Secretary for advanced sight of her statement, not that it was necessary given the extensive

00:04leaks and pre-briefing. Now the Prime Minister claimed this morning that all of a sudden he

00:10wants to control immigration. I must say that came to me as something of a surprise. The Prime

00:16Minister seems to have undergone a miraculous conversion. He has apparently repudiated

00:22everything he has ever believed. Or perhaps the Prime Minister is doing what he always does,

00:27saying whatever he thinks people want to hear at any given point in time. Perhaps the Prime

00:34Minister sees his minus 36% approval ratings, and this paper is his desperate response.

00:41Because, Mr Speaker, we know what the Prime Minister really thinks about immigration,

00:46because he has often told us. The Prime Minister once described immigration law and border control

00:52as racist. He signed a letter opposing the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals,

00:59including murders and rapists. He pledged he would reintroduce full free movement of people,

01:05and he sermonised enthusiastically about the benefits of migration. He even said the

01:11Yarlswood Immigration Removal Centre should be closed down. Perhaps the Home Secretary can tell us

01:16if she'll be following the Prime Minister's advice on that one. So given what the Prime Minister really

01:21thinks about immigration, it is no surprise that in 2025 this Labour government has presided over the worst

01:29start to the year in history for illegal immigrants crossing the English Channel, up 30% since the election

01:38last year, and the worst start to a year ever under this Labour government. So it's also no surprise that this plan

01:47is so weak that it barely scratches the surface. On its very first page, it seeks to create a false

01:55impression. It says visa applications, and the Home Secretary repeated this a minute ago, saying visa

02:01applications are 40% down since the election, implying that it's somehow down to this government.

02:08Why are visa applications actually down by 40%? It is because of the changes made by the last government,

02:15which came into force in April 2024. And from the previous peak, net migration is already forecast

02:23to reduce by around about half a million. And if the Home Secretary is now all of a sudden so keen

02:31on reducing migration, will she explain why she suspended the Conservative plan to increase the

02:37family visa threshold to £38,000? It was due to come into force last month. Will she tell us

02:44when that change will now be introduced? Now the truth is, Madam Deputy Speaker, this plan is weak

02:51and it will have little impact. The Home Secretary admitted on Laura Koonsberg's programme yesterday

02:58that measures will only reduce net migration by 50,000, just one-tenth of the impact of the

03:05previous Conservative changes. The honest truth is that we need to go much further than this paper does.

03:12Immigration needs to come down a lot, lot more. And under new leadership, the Conservative Party is

03:19taking a new approach. Well, you can vote on this later if you are so keen. High immigration has put

03:27pressure on housing, it has put pressure on public services, on social cohesion and on the economy.

03:36Because mass low-wage, low-skill migration actually undermines our economy's productivity

03:42and costs other taxpayers money. Because low-wage migrants consume services which cost the Exchequer

03:50more than they pay in tax, particularly where there are dependents. So we need to go much further.

03:56And that is why, later today, the House will vote on two Conservative proposals as amendments to the

04:03Borders Bill, which I can see Members opposite are very excited about the prospect of doing. The first of

04:09those amendments will create a binding annual cap on migration to be set and voted on democratically

04:17by this Parliament. It will allow full democratic parliamentary control over those migration numbers,

04:25deliver complete transparency and ensure immigration levels are drastically reduced. I can see the

04:31Immigration Minister talking enthusiastically from the front bench. I assume that means she'll be

04:35supporting this measure. And, Madam Deputy Speaker, secondly, we will vote on an amendment to repeal

04:41the Human Rights Act from all immigration matters, not just tinker with Article 8, as the Home Secretary

04:50says. This will stop foreign criminals and others with no right to be here from abusing human rights laws

04:57in UK courts, including Article 3. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, I have a very simple question for the Home

05:05Secretary. I will try anyway. If she is really serious about controlling immigration, will she vote

05:12later on today for the immigration cap, and will she vote to repeal the Human Rights Act for all immigration

05:19matters?

05:20Madam Deputy Speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker, I must have missed a bit of the Shadow Home Secretary's response.

05:29The bit, maybe at the beginning, when he apologised to the House and to the country for his party's

05:37policies that quadrupled net migration in the space of just four years. He tells us his concerns about the

05:45level of migration. It was his party that is responsible for that huge increase in net migration.

05:53And I must have missed a bit as well, where he confessed that from the point at which he became an

05:58Immigration Minister in 2020, when all these policies were introduced, to the point at which the Shadow

06:06Justice Secretary finished being Immigration Minister in 2023, net migration rose from £170,000 a year

06:15to £870,000 a year. But I must have missed that confession and that apology, because that is

06:24what the Shadow Home Secretary should have done. And frankly, until he admits his failure, until he

06:32apologises for the damage, the chaos that he and his party caused, frankly, no one is going to take

06:39seriously, a single word he says.

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