The most outlandish political joke of the moment is the idea that the Labour party believes in strong border controls. Keir Starmer gave it a run out in PMQs yesterday, berating Boris Johnson by observing:
‘Our borders have been wide open pretty much throughout the pandemic.’
Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs select committee, has also been unleashing her trademark owlish looks of disapproval at ministers over an alleged lack of stringency in Covid-related immigration measures. During the Queen’s Speech debate she complained:
‘For months on end there were no public health border measures in place at all.’
Labour presumably hopes that to be seen outflanking the Tories on the right on immigration, albeit on the narrow and short-term issue of the Covid threat, will go down well among lost red wall voters.
The implication is clear: immigration law should not be properly enforced
But the truth is that it’s all an act.
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