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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Peter Walker Senior political correspondent

‘Island of strangers’ speech echoes of past discordant voices over immigration

Red Labour party mug with the phrase: 'Controls on immigration'
Labour’s campaigning red mug with the slogan ‘Controls on immigration’, ahead of the 2015 elections was condemned as ‘shameful’. Photograph: Labour

Internal Labour rows about how the party speaks about immigration are, of course, nothing new. Ahead of the 2015 election, a campaigning red mug with the slogan “Controls on immigration”, was condemned by veteran MP Diane Abbott as “shameful”.

This week, similar criticism has greeted a government paper on reducing net migration numbers – less about the proposed policies than the language used by Keir Starmer to introduce them.

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