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Labour’s northern heartlands will decide the EU referendum, says rising star Dan Jarvis as the party ramps up its Remain campaign.

The former Army Major and Barnsley MP will tell Northern voters they have ‘the most to gain’ from staying in Europe after enjoying huge sums of EU investment over recent years.

“We have received billions in EU funding over the last decade for pioneering projects based in the North,” he said.

“The evidence is also clear that leaving the EU will put jobs in the North at risk and mean that the cost of the weekly shop rises.”

Mr Jarvis, long tipped as a future Labour leader, will say relatively low incomes in the North of England mean predictions of price rises if Britain pulls out of the EU will hit local families hard.

He also highlighted Treasury statistics suggesting around 700,000 jobs in the North are linked to EU funding and warned unemployment could increase by 119,000 across the North in the event of Brexit.

(Image: Getty)

“The North of England was once the economic powerhouse of Britain - and we must make that possible once again,” he said.

“Leaving the EU would reverse progress and harm our economy.”

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It comes amid rising panic among some Northern Labour MPs that many of their core voters are considering voting ‘Leave’ on June 23 due to fears about immigration.

Shadow home office minister Keir Starmer warned Labour has “walked past” the issue of immigration instead of tackling people’s fears head-on.

“There’s a perception that Labour has walked past a problem, walked round a problem, rather than confronted a problem. And we’ve got to confront it,” he said.

“I think you should walk towards a challenge, rather than away from a challenge.

“What we’re picking up as we go around the country is the public – rightly or wrongly, and in a sense it doesn’t matter whether they’re right or wrong – think that Labour doesn’t want to talk to them about immigration. They think we don’t want to hear what they’ve got to say.

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“We have absolutely got to break that and to make it clear that we are engaging, we will engage, and that the answer to people who express concern on immigration is not ‘you’re wrong’, it’s actually to start a conversation and understand what the real cause of the concern is.

Speaking in Manchester Andy Burnham said Brexit could unleash racism across the UK.

“If Britain votes to leave, rising intolerance, discrimination and xenophobia will be an inevitable consequence.

“People need to ask - do we really want to go down that path?” he said.

Britain’s “political climate and debate is becoming increasingly poisoned” as the EU debate veers into anger, he added.

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And, without naming the Ukip leader, he pointed the finger at Mr Farage for stirring up trouble with his claim sex assaults like those in Cologne on New Year’s Eve could happen in Britain if we stayed in the 28-nation bloc.

“When politicians start linking migrants with sex attacks, it’s time to get very worried indeed,” the Labour frontbencher told the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

“Whenever people have tried this kind of rhetoric in British politics before, they have been given short shrift.

“It is tempting Britain down a road of intolerance, prejudice and nationalism - and we should have none of it.”