Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman doesn’t speak for him, says Diane Abbott Labour has been accused of having a “hopelessly confused” approach to immigration after Diane Abbott contradicted a series of statements […]

Labour has been accused of having a “hopelessly confused” approach to immigration after Diane Abbott contradicted a series of statements from some of the party’s most senior MPs on the issue.

The shadow Home Secretary criticised a plan put forward by Clive Lewis, the shadow Business Secretary, and dismissed other statements from Labour MPs Dan Jarvis, Rachel Reeves and Chuka Umunna.

“I’m a former Home Office civil servant and what I can tell you is targets never work” The i politics newsletter cut through the noise Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription. Diane Abbott

Ms Abbott also said voters should “discount” previous comments about immigration attributed to Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman, who suggested the Labour leader was “not concerned” about the number of people entering the UK.

She was questioned about Labour’s approach to the issue in the wake of official statistics published last week, which showed UK net migration hit 335,000 in the year to the end of June.

Asked about statements made by Mr Jarvis, who has called for the Government to secure more control over immigration through the Brexit negotiations, she told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme: “I’m a former Home Office civil servant and what I can tell you is targets never work.”

She added: “Targets are not the point. The point is to look at the underlying economic issues which bring migrants to our shores.”

Foreign workers

Ms Abbott was also asked about an idea floated by Mr Lewis that UK companies should only be allowed to bring in foreign workers if they belong to a trade union.

“I think he’s rowed back from that – that would be profoundly anti-civil libertarian to insist that people join a union,” she replied.

The Hackney MP dismissed the views of Ms Reeves and Mr Umunna, who have said the Government must end freedom of movement while also securing the best possible access to the European single market.

“They’re not facing the fact – the fact is you cannot have access to the single market without commensurate freedom of movement,” she said.

Ms Abbott was also read a quote from Mr Corbyn’s spokesman, who said in September that reducing immigration was “not an objective” and that “Jeremy is not concerned about numbers”.

She replied: “The Corbyn spokesperson – I think we can discount that. That wasn’t Jeremy Corbyn, Jeremy has never said anything like that.”

Responding to her comments, a Conservative spokesman said: “Labour’s position on immigration is hopelessly confused and totally out-of-step with the values of ordinary working people.”

Article 50

On Saturday, Mr Corbyn confirmed that Labour would seek to amend any future Government bill on the EU withdrawal process to ensure that the UK retained access to the European single market.

Theresa May may be compelled seek the approval of MPs before triggering Article 50, which begins the formal EU withdrawal process, depending on the outcome of a Supreme Court hearing which begins tomorrow.

The Labour leader said that while his party would respect the referendum result, it would seek to amend any bill to protect the UK’s single market access, workers’ rights and environmental protection measures.

“We want those [issues] to be part of the negotiation but we are respecting the result of the referendum. It might not be the one we wanted, it’s the one we’ve got,” he told Sky News.