Labour has stopped relying on the ‘magic money tree’ – now it has found a ‘magic people tree’

Keir Starmer says he is opposed to growth that relies on immigration, but this is another form of fantasy economics, writes John Rentoul

(Paul Campbell/PA Wire)

Keir Starmer is straddling the issue of immigration, opposing Rishi Sunak’s small boats policy for being ineffective rather than inhumane, and claiming that a Labour government would break Britain’s “dependence” on high net immigration to sustain economic growth.

It is ironic that, as Boris Johnson leaves the stage, it is the Labour Party that inherits his reputation for wanting to eat his cake and have it. Starmer has swivelled from defending the free movement of people throughout the EU at the last election to advocating lower net immigration than the government.

In November, the Labour leader told the CBI that he wanted to work with them “to help the British economy off its immigration dependency to start investing more in training workers who are already here”.