General election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn ‘will keep free movement of people’ in Brexit U-turn The Labour leader suggested he would not seek to introduce a new immigration regime for EU citizens

Free movement of people between Britain and the EU would continue under a Labour government, Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed.

Asked if his proposed new Brexit deal would contain any controls on migration from Europe, the Labour leader said free movement “enriches the lives of all of us”. He has previously claimed he would end the open-borders regime after Brexit.

The U-turn comes as Mr Corbyn has revealed the Labour general election slogan will be “It’s time for real change”. The party promises to negotiate a new Withdrawal Agreement with the EU, then put it to the public in a referendum to decide whether Britain should remain or leave.

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After a speech in Telford Mr Corbyn was asked whether the new deal would continue free movement on the same terms as currently. He replied: “I want our young people to be brought up in a world where they can travel, they can experience other societies, they can make their contribution there. And do you know what? That enriches their lives, and enriches the lives of all of us.”

‘Valuable contributions’

He added: “I want to make sure all those European Union nationals do remain here, can come here, will stay here and we will be happy to work with them as indeed many British people have made their homes in other parts of Europe making equally valuable contributions to those societies where they’ve gone to live.”

At the last election, Labour promised to end free movement of people after Brexit. Conservative security minister Brandon Lewis said: “Just two years ago, Jeremy Corbyn pledged that freedom of movement would end when we leave the European Union.

“Today, he said that he wants to ensure all EU nationals ‘can come’ to the UK – which would put massive pressure on our NHS, schools and the police. A vote for Jeremy Corbyn at this election is a vote for unlimited immigration and the chaos of two more referendums.”

Today Mr Corbyn will travel across North-West England in a campaign bus with “It’s time for real change” emblazoned on the side. The party will fund a project to plant new forests in order to offset the carbon emissions produced by the vehicle over the next five weeks.