Shadow foreign secretary also urges leave campaign to be more honest about necessity of immigration

Voters will be bitterly disappointed if they choose to leave the EU in the belief that it will significantly reduce immigration, Hilary Benn, the shadow foreign secretary, has said.

The senior Labour MP said leaving the EU would not put a stop to high levels of immigration as foreign workers would be needed to care for Britain’s ageing population and staff the NHS.

EU referendum live: Gordon Brown says 'real problem' not EU immigration but illegal immigration Read more

“Immigration into Britain will continue whether we stay or go, as the leave campaign have now admitted,” he said, urging the leave campaign to be more honest about the necessity of immigration.



“Indeed, Nigel Farage’s contradictory promises, as we saw yesterday, simply don’t add up. And anyone who thinks that voting leave will bring the numbers down significantly will in time be bitterly disappointed.”

Benn went on to speak of how his late father, Tony Benn, a Labour politician and well known anti-EU campaigner, was cared for with patience and gentleness by foreign health and care workers in his final days.

He pointed out that one in five of Britain’s care workers comes from outside the UK – from Europe and the rest of the world – and more will be needed as the population ages.

“In the years ahead, it will be our turn to be looked after,” Benn said. “And as well as providing that care, we will need to pay for it, which is why it is utterly irresponsible to advocate a course of action that will lead to a weaker, less strong and less prosperous economy.

“This would damage our public services and make it more difficult to deal with, as we must, the pressures that immigration brings.”

Making a passionate case in favour of the benefits of immigration, Benn said the British were a nation of migrants, from the “Romans to the Anglo-Saxons and the Normans, from the Jews fleeing persecution to the Irish fleeing famine and from the Windrush generation and those who came from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to work in the mills to their present day equivalents from Poland, Lithuania and Romania”.

He also accused leave campaigners of harking back to the age of empire. “They sound as if they mourn for the bygone age in which Britain gained influence through military strength and empire,” he said.

“In the second half of the 20th century, we came to realise that it was far better and far more effective to be a global power that achieved its goals through cooperation rather than conquest.”

The MP set out his argument as Labour hit the referendum campaign trail afresh on Monday, with Gordon Brown leading a final 10-day push in an attempt to prevent Britain leaving the EU.

A speech from the former prime minister setting out the case to “lead, not leave” will be the centrepiece of a day of events led by Labour but carefully choreographed with No 10, amid fears that without a strong remain verdict from Labour voters the referendum could be lost.

“From now until 10pm on 23 June, we will not rest and I will not stop explaining why 9 million Labour voters have most to gain from remaining in the EU,” Brown will say. After weeks of warnings about the risks of leaving the EU, Labour now hopes to switch the arguments to the benefits of staying in.

Brown will use the speech in Leicester to set out reforms he believes Britain could achieve when it takes over the EU presidency of the council of ministers in the second half of next year, including action on tax havens and an EU “solidarity fund” to help communities facing a rapid influx of migrants.

“Today I am setting out a positive agenda for Labour voters – reasons why Labour voters should vote remain and the patriotic case for remaining in Europe,” he will say.

Appearing on the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday before his speech, Brown said Britain had a history of leading in Europe. “Look at the sweep of history,” he said.

“Britain led Europe against fascism, Britain created the European convention of human rights, Britain was the leader in persuading eastern Europe to come in to the European Union, Britain has always led the way when things have been difficult in Europe, and I think it’s time that we were a leader again.”

“I think the British people’s patriotism is this: we want to be proud of our country and we will be proud of our country if we are leading in Europe. Not isolated, not on the sidelines, not sending flotillas up the Thames as a demonstration of strength but actually engaging in the world, out there, leading in proposals, showing that we can actually change the world for the better.”



On voters’ concerns about immigration, Brown emphasised that the government must help communities that have been hit by rising population levels but pointed out leaving would not be the panacea that the leave camp are claiming.

“Norway and Switzerland, outside the European Union, have higher rates of immigration … the real problem we’re dealing with is illegal immigration. When you saw Albanians coming into the country, that wasn’t Europeans trying to get in by right, that was illegal immigrants driven by gangmasters, traffickers, criminal gangs. The only way to deal with that is by cooperation across the authorities in France and elsewhere.”

With the referendum less than a fortnight away, the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign believes that between a third and a half of Labour supporters have not yet made up their minds about how to vote and won’t be convinced by being urged to back the status quo.



Brown’s intervention in the Scottish referendum campaign in 2014 was regarded by many as crucial, and Stronger In hopes his voice still carries weight with Labour voters. “There is everything to play for and Labour will campaign across the country to mobilise Labour voters to back remain,” said a senior Labour source.

The former prime minister has already shared his EU reform proposals with his old foe David Cameron and the government has agreed to consider them.

Brown has also discussed Labour’s strategy in the final few days of the campaign with Jeremy Corbyn, Corbyn’s deputy, Tom Watson, and the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, in a rare show of unity between the Labour old guard and the current leadership.

McDonnell said: “These proposals from Gordon Brown are welcome and are part of the positive Labour case that I and others are making to vote to remain and reform the EU.”

Corbyn is expected to make a key speech this week in favour of remain and give an interview to Sky News three days before the poll, but some Labour figures are infuriated that he told Channel 4’s Last Leg comedy programme that his enthusiasm for the EU was only about 7/10.



