'Rwanda is a fatuous gimmick - Labour will not only deter but tackle immigration' - Bill Rammell

Net migration today is three times what it was when Labour left office in 2010. Deportations have fallen 40 per cent since then.

It is a shocking record. A word of advice to the Tories even at this late stage, with a record like yours I really wouldn’t keep banging on about immigration. People do not believe a word you say.

By contrast when Labour was in power, we cut asylum numbers significantly, because we were serious and practical. The next Labour Government will tackle net migration and reduce the numbers significantly.

Net migration today stands at an unsustainable annual 683,000. Whilst we do need some migration to fulfil our legal Refugee Convention responsibilities -which most people support- and to provide skilled Labour we don’t have, 683,000 is far too high and reduces GDP per head our collective wealth.

Under the Conservatives, our economy has become overly dependent on workers from abroad to fill skills shortages.

Labour by contrast will reform the points-based immigration system so that it is fair and effectively managed, with proper restrictions on visas, and by linking immigration and skills policy. And the days of a business sector languishing endlessly on immigration shortage lists with no action to train up British workers will be ended.

So, Labour will drive a coherent skills strategy to train British workers to do many of jobs currently undertaken by migrants. And Labour will tackle the scandal of low pay, which is unfair and disincentives British workers to take jobs for example in the care sector.

Labour will make sure the minimum wage is a real living wage that people can live on. The Low Pay Commission’s remit will be changed so that alongside median wages and economic conditions, the need for pay to take into account the cost of living will be enacted.

But we must tackle asylum numbers and Labour will. The biggest pull factor driving up asylum claim numbers is the huge backlog of asylum claims the Tories have allowed to develop.

If people know they can come here, not have their claims dealt with for years, and work in the black economy, they are effectively encouraged. So Labour will employ huge numbers of new case workers to reduce the backlog and the pull factor.

Rwanda is a fatuous gimmick. It is most certainly not a deterrent, with only a 0.77 per cent chance of being sent to Rwanda. And the costs are excessive-£150,000 per person.

So Labour would scrap the scheme and use the money to create a new elite Border Security Command, involving our security agencies.

Labour will target the people smuggling gangs that facilitate illegal boat crossings. When Kier Starmer was Director of Public Prosecutions he worked successfully with our crime and security forces to chase down terrorists. If we can succeed against terrorists, we most certainly can succeed against people smugglers.

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Labour will also negotiate a returns agreement so that asylum seekers can be returned to the first EU country they entered. That was a key tool under the last Labour Government for reducing numbers.

And critically, Labour will establish a 1,000 strong Returns and Enforcement unit, bringing strong co-operation between the Home Office and the Foreign Office, tackling some of the diplomatic blockages to tackling illegal migration and asylum.

When I was a Foreign Office Minister I met weekly with Bev Hughes, the immigration minister, to oversee work to reduce numbers. And this effort is part of the way we significantly brought numbers down. The Returns and Enforcement Unit will replicate that joint approach.

So, immigration will be tackled by the next Labour Government, just as it was by the last one.