Labour will give migrants the right to vote as part of immigration shake up

Labour has committed to give migrants the right to vote as part of a major shift in the party's immigration policy.

It is a huge shift from the party's 2017 manifesto which promised to end free movement of people and backed Brexit .

And it shows how far Labour has moved from the "controls on immigration" pledge in the 2015 election which angered many members.

Enfranchising the around 3.6m EU citizens living in the UK could make a significant difference to the result of any future referendum - which the party has pledged to support.

The motion by the campaign group Labour for Free Movement, supported by Another Europe Is Possible, was carried with the backing of big trade unions, including GMB, Unite and Unison.

It shows how far the party has come from the "controls on immigration" pledge in the 2015 election (Internet Unknown)

It is part of a radical package which involves ending the hostile environment and scrapping the hated immigration detention centres like the notorious Yarl's Wood.

Labour is now committed to campaign for "free movement, equality and rights for migrants", and reject any immigration system based on "incomes, migrants' utility to business and number caps or targets".

And the party will ensure an "unconditional right" to family reunion, scrap all "hostile environment" measures and seek to "actively challenge anti-immigrant narratives".

The latest moves will commit the party to scrap hated immigration detention centres like the notorious Yarl's Wood.

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Labour is now committed to campaign for "free movement, equality and rights for migrants", and reject any immigration system based on "incomes, migrants' utility to business and number caps or targets".

And the party will ensure an "unconditional right" to family reunion, scrap all "hostile environment" measures and seek to "actively challenge anti-immigrant narratives".

Separately the party also agreed to build two million new council homes over 20 years, to be let at social rents.

The motion called for an average of 155,000 social rented homes a year over 20 years, £10bn a year housing grant ringfenced for councils to build 100,000 social rented council homes, and an end to right to buy.

The notorious detention centre has been widely criticised (LIVERPOOL ECHO)

This marks a dramatic shift in the party’s social housing policy.

The two motions rounded off a week of major policy changes - many of them spearheaded by the grassroots who pushed the party further than it had intended to go.

They included plans to achieve net zero carbon by 2030 and effectively scrapping private schools.