Labour Party 16/05/2014 Party Election Broadcasts for the European Parliament

One of the things I've done since I became leader of the Labour Party is

understand where we got things wrong in government, and changed them.

And one of the things we didn't get right was immigration.

And that's why I've got a new approach.

Millions of people in this country are concerned about immigration.

And if people are concerned about it,

the Labour Party I lead is going to be talking about it.

And in these local and European elections,

Labour is setting out a different plan.

Britain's diversity is a source of strength and has made us

a more successful country.

But I know that people can lose out

if migration isn't properly controlled and managed.

And I know that people can see their wages undercut.

So it's not prejudice when people worry about immigration -

it's understandable.

Low-skill migration has been too high and we need to bring it down.

That means the maximum transitional controls for new countries

coming in from Eastern Europe,

it means properly enforcing the minimum wage,

so people aren't brought here to undercut workers already here,

and it means let's give proper training to workers already here

so that they have a fighting chance of filling the vacancies that exist.

There's nothing wrong in employing people from abroad, but the rules

need to be fair so that local people get a fair crack at the whip.

I met young people at the college who were learning how to be

car mechanics, learning how to be bricklayers.

They're desperate for apprenticeships, desperate for jobs.

That's why, under a Labour government,

companies bringing in skilled workers from outside the European Union

will also be required to offer

apprenticeships to the next generation.

For recruitment agencies, some of whom do a good job,

they can't engage in bad practices, like saying,

"We're only going to employ people from abroad."

That's wrong and we would change it,

we would say to all recruitment agencies, you can't just

exclude people because they happen to be living in Britain.

I've come to Acton College in West London.

This is the college where my dad came, 70 years ago,

after fleeing from the Nazis.

He worked as a removals man by day and he studied English here.

He knew he couldn't get on in life, couldn't get on in Britain,

if he didn't learn English.

'Everyone who comes to live

'and work here should learn the English language.'

How important do you think these courses are, English...

'What was really striking to me

'was talking to the women in the classroom about learning English.'

They said to me overwhelmingly, look, we've got

to be able to learn English, because otherwise, as one of them said,

how can we be part of our society?

I'll make some simple changes.

English language teaching has been cut back in recent years.

But talk to the people at this college and they say that's

much more important than some of the non-essential translation services.

So we'll make English language teaching a priority,

and the priority it deserves to be.

And we'd also have a very simple rule which says that

if you work in the public sector, in a job face-to-face

with the public, you need to be able to speak English.

I'm going to tell people what I believe,

and I believe that diversity is good for Britain.

But it's got to be made to work for all and not just for some.

That means everybody taking responsibility,

everybody playing their part and contributing to the country.

That is what One Nation is all about

and that's the Britain I want to build.