Immigration must go down… but not yet? Yvette Cooper insists Labour is ‘serious’ about reducing immigration once young Britons are ‘properly trained’ for jobs – while Home Secretary promises summer unrest will not ‘silent debate’

Yvette Cooper today stressed that Labour was “serious” about reducing net migration, but warned that Britain must “properly train young people” to replace workers abroad.

In her speech to the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the Home Secretary said net migration must “fall” after tripling under the Tories.

She also vowed that she would not allow this summer’s unrest, which spread across Britain following the Southport stabbings, to “silence serious debate about immigration”.

Ms Cooper launched a furious attack on the Conservatives – who she, along with Reform UK, branded “right-wing destroyers” – for their response to the violence.

The Interior Minister sharply criticized those politicians who failed to assure “our brave officers of their full support” while the unrest was followed by claims of a “two-tier regime”.

Net migration – the difference between the number of people entering the UK and the number of people leaving the UK – was just under 200,000 in 2009, the last year before the Tories came to power.

Despite repeated promises by five Conservative Prime Ministers to reduce inflows to the UK, this figure rose to 685,000 in 2023.

Speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool, the Home Secretary said net migration must “go down” after tripling under the Tories.

McCooper also vowed that he would not allow this summer’s unrest, which spread across Britain in the wake of the Southport stabbings, to “silence serious debate about immigration”.

In her conference speech this morning, Ms Cooper slammed her Tory predecessors, saying a “serious debate on immigration” had been “missing for too long amid the chaos, the tricks and the damaging, inflated rhetoric”.

She added: “A serious government will see that net migration has tripled because recruitment from abroad has increased sharply while training has been cut sharply, and say that net migration must fall because we are training young people properly here in the UK.”

“A serious government sees a chaotic asylum system and says we have to clear the backlog and abolish asylum hotels.”

“And a serious government looks at the criminal gangs that profit from undermining our border security while women and children are crushed to death in overcrowded, rickety little boats and says they have gotten away with it for too long – we will not tolerate this abhorrent trafficking in human lives.”

“A serious government knows how important immigration is. That is why it must be properly managed and controlled so that the system is fair. So that the rules are respected and enforced, but we never see another shameful repeat of the Windrush scandal that let down British citizens.”

Just weeks after the Labour Party won power in the general election, Ms Cooper and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were forced to deal with the outbreak of widespread unrest across Britain.

This summer’s unrest followed fatal knife attacks on young girls during a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport.

The Home Secretary condemned the violence, saying it was not about “immigration, policing or poverty,” adding: “It was racism, it was violence, it was crime.”

She also said she was “shocked by the reaction of some members of right-wing political parties who once claimed to care about law and order.”

The unrest led to accusations of a “two-tier police force” and allegations that the police treated some groups more harshly than others.

In an attack on those who questioned the police response to the unrest, Ms Cooper said: “After the rioters attacked the police, they should have given our brave officers full support.”

“Instead, we have all too often seen them undermine the integrity and authority of the police and even find excuses for the mob.

“If you recall, in the run-up to the ceasefire last year, shameful vilification of the police, which made it difficult for them to do their job, was considered grounds for dismissal for a Conservative Home Secretary.”

“One year later, these smears have become an article of faith for every Tory candidate for leadership. It is disgraceful what this party has become.

“The Tories and their Reform Party cronies are becoming right-wing destroyers. They are undermining respect for the law and trying to tear apart the very bonds that keep the community safe.”