Stockport’s Ukip candidate Steven Woolfe is on a collision course with Ed Miliband over immigration after the Labour leader vowed to ‘introduce concrete change’ to the system.
Ukip’s immigration spokesman branded the move ‘political point-scoring’ as Mr Miliband hit the campaign trail in Rochester hoping to follow up the by-election victory in Heywood and Middleton early this month.
But Mr Woolfe slammed Labour’s migration record and called on the Eurosceptic party’s supporters to back them to ‘take back control of the borders’.
“Labour opened our borders unconditionally to hundreds of millions of people,” said Mr Woolfe.
“This allowed more than four million people to enter the country over 13 years.
“It caused mass wage compression and placed huge strain on the NHS and other vital public services. The Great British public are fed up of listening to more false promises on such a vital issue.
“Only one party is taking this issue seriously – Ukip. We were the only party brave enough to bring the issue to the forefront of the political debate. And we are the only ones giving viable solutions to sort it out.”
The Ukip response comes after Labour aimed to build on Liz McInnes’ success in Heywood and Middleton by taking charge of Rochester.
The by-election in Kent was called after Mark Reckless defected to Nigel Farage’s party from the Conservatives and he is currently odds-on to regain his seat, beating his former friends into second place with Labour trailing in third.
With Miliband’s party looking healthier in the national polls, despite Ukip’s historic entrance into the House of Commons with first-ever MP and Tory defection Douglas Carswell, he told supporters that he will not turn his back on Europe.
“I will not make promises I cannot keep,” said Mr Miliband. “I would never propose a policy or a course of action that would damage the country.
“Nigel Farage wants to leave the EU – on which three million British jobs and thousands of businesses in our country depend.
“Now David Cameron is also saying he is ready to leave the EU and have Britain turn its back on the rest of the world.
“I will not be a Prime Minister who puts either those jobs and businesses or our national interest at risk.
“Labour offers real change right now, not damage to our country.”
But Mr Woolfe insists staying in the credit crunch-damaged Eurozone would be a foolish move.
“At our recent conference I promised to cap migration to 50,000 a year. I can promise that as I also propose to leave the European Union, so we can take back control of our borders,” Mr Woolfe said.
“We are the only party promising this. Labour and Conservatives are committed to the EU, that also means they’re committed to unconditional open borders to nearly half a billion people.
“It is time we had a party in government that actually took the actions that are needed to control migration. Only Ukip will take back control of our borders.”
Image courtesy of EU reporter, via YouTube, with thanks.
