The most popular explanation for Labour’s decision to abstain and then U-turn on the government’s immigration bill last week – a bill that ends freedom of movement in the European Union, enshrines privileges for high-earning migrants against low-earning ones, and forces all EU citizens to apply for “settled status” – is simple electoral strategy.
If Labour hopes to court Leave voters, the argument goes, it must heed their call to constrain migration. Such was the logic of their 2017 manifesto promise that “freedom of movement will end” after Brexit.
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