'We made it too easy': Starmer admits Labour 'did shy away' from tackling illegal migration

The Prime Minister will argue that it is not too late to turn these mistakes around in a speech on Friday aimed at tackling Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and the populist right as they surge in the polls.

He is also set to announce the new compulsory ID - dubbed the “Brit card” - in a bid to tackle illegal migration.

It comes after the left did "shy away" from this, according to Sir Keir.

“There is no doubt that for years Left-wing parties, including my own, did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration," he said.

“It has been too easy for people to enter the country, work in the shadow economy and remain illegally,” Starmer wrote on Friday.

Read more: Every adult in the UK to require digital ID under new Keir Starmer plan

He added: “We must be absolutely clear that tackling every aspect of the problem of illegal immigration is essential

“It is a complex problem requiring action right across Government, and in the last few weeks, we have seen the first flights returning people who have no right to be here," he added to the Telegraph.

Sir Keir is also expected to declare that the country is “at a crossroads" in Friday’s speech at the Global Progress Action Summit, which comes just before Labour’s annual conference kicks off this weekend.

He will reportedly argue that it “is not compassionate left-wing politics” to rely on migration to plug workforce gaps as he promotes the idea of “difference under the same flag”.

Sir Keir will also set to out a choice between “a politics of predatory grievance, preying on the problems of working people” and “patriotic renewal, rooted in communities, building a better country, brick by brick, from the bottom up, including everyone in the national story”.

“That is miserable, joyless, demonstrably untrue, and yet, in another way, totally cohesive,” he will say.

It comes as pressure grows on Sir Keir to take on the growing threat of Reform UK as it surges in the polls- while speculation mounts that Manchester mayor Andy Burnham could launch a leadership bid.

Mr Burnham said MPs had privately urged him to mount a challenge to Sir Keir.

Polling by the More in Common think tank revealed that Labour would overtake Reform UK in the polls if Mr Burnham became leader.

28 per cent of those polled said they would currently vote Reform, with Labour on 25 per cent.

But, with Mr Burnham leading Labour instead of Sir Keir, 30 per cent would vote Labour, and 28 per cent would still vote Reform.

What is Labour doing to bring down illegal immigration?

Sir Keir Starmer announced a new migration deal with France in July after crunch talks with French president Emmanuel Macron.

The two leaders pledged to tackle the "global crisis" of illegal migration with the "groundbreaking" agreement, which will allow illegal migrants to be returned to France quickly in exchange for someone legally allowed to live in the UK.

The Government has recently announced it will give an extra £100m in funding to support the pilot migrant returns deal between Britain and France.

The cash will pay for up to 300 National Crime Agency (NCA) officers and tech to fulfil Labour's manifesto promise to "smash" smuggling gangs.

Deterring signs in asylum seeker camps in France will be installed.

These will warn: “Get on a small boat and you will be deported".

Sir Keir has also pledged to "take back control of our borders" and close the book on a "squalid chapter" for politics and the economy.