David Cameron has offered to work on a cross-party basis to help areas struggling with the impact of immigration, as he was pressed by Labour’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to address voters’ concerns ahead of the EU referendum.
The prime minister said he was considering bringing back a fund to help areas that had experienced a population surge, and that he wanted to find a way of stopping firms advertising only in other EU countries for migrant workers.
Cameron was asked for better measures to help areas feeling the pressure amid severe concerns in the remain camp that Labour voters might back Brexit because of worries about immigration.
Corybn said: “Many people in Britain are concerned about immigration and their local communities. Surely what communities need are practical solutions like the migrant impact fund set up by Gordon Brown, when he was prime minister, to deal with the extra pressure on housing, schools and hospitals. Will you now concede that it was a mistake to abolish that fund, and will you work with us to reinstate it as a matter of urgency to give support to those communities that are facing problems [with] school places, and doctors’ surgeries?”
The prime minister said he would work with Labour and other parties to address the concerns of voters, but stressed that leaving the EU was not the right way to deal with unhappiness about immigration.
Cameron added: “In answer to the question about employment agencies that only advertise for overseas workers – we are looking at that to see if we can, and, we have announced this already, to see if we can ban that practice because we don’t believe that is right.
“Of course, the answer to so many of these questions is actually to make sure we are training, educating and employing British people and getting them the qualifications they need to take on the jobs that our economy is creating.
“In terms of funds to help communities impacted by migration, we have a pledge in our manifesto, which we are looking forward to bringing forward, which [is] actually a controlled migration fund to make sure we put money into communities where there are pressures. Because, of course, there are some pressures and we do need to address them, and I’m happy we will be able to work on a cross-party basis to do that.”
The prime minister adopted a more hesitant and consensual tone than usual at what could conceivably be his last weekly sparring session at the despatch box against the Labour leader. There is no prime minister’s questions next week, the day before the referendum, and a vote to leave the EU could lead to his resignation. It would be more likely for Cameron to name a date for his departure later in the year to ensure a stable handover, but it is feasible he could resign on the spot, despite having insisted he would carry on and implement negotiations with Brussels.
Corbyn also pressed the prime minister on his failure to implement the second part of the Leveson inquiry, and over fishing quotas handed predominantly to a few companies.
In one question, the Labour leader took the opportunity to stress his party’s commitment to staying in the EU.
Afterwards, Angus Robertson, the SNP Westminster leader, was unusually helpful to Cameron, asking him to spell out for Scotland the consequences of a £30bn budget blackhole if the UK referendum led to a leave decision.
“Decisions to cut public spending in the UK budget do have an impact, through Barnett, on Scotland,” Cameron replied. “To anyone who says these warnings could be wrong or inaccurate – there were warnings about the oil price before the Scottish referendum. It turned out actually to be worse than the experts warned.”
