Migration must come down “across the board”, Anas Sarwar has said as he backed the Prime Minister’s plans to curb the number of people coming into the UK.
The Scottish Labour leader expressed his support for Sir Keir Starmer’s crackdown, but would not endorse the language used by him.
Mr Sarwar said the UK needs a “well-managed” immigration system that controls the country’s borders.
He said that under the last Conservative government, net migration was “far too high” and reform is needed.
But asked whether he would have chosen the language Sir Keir used to announce the new rules, Mr Sarwar said it is for the Prime Minister to decide his own words.
Sir Keir warned the UK risks becoming an “island of strangers” if migration controls are not tightened, as he spoke of a “squalid” time for the country.
Critics, including backbench Labour MPs, have raised concerns about the language, with some comparing it to a similar passage from Enoch Powell’s infamous 1968 “rivers of blood” speech.
Mr Sarwar told the PA news agency: “It’s for the Prime Minister to use his own language.
“The Prime Minister also said that he values the role of migrants.
“He also said he supported an immigration system that worked and recognised the important role that migrants have made for many generations.”
When asked about the PM’s speech, Labour Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan said she would not use “divisive language” on the subject of immigration.
During a visit to Larkhall on Wednesday, Mr Sarwar defended the Prime Minister’s overarching plans, saying they are needed to ensure the system is fair and balanced.
Asked if immigration in Scotland should be lower, Mr Sarwar said: “I think right across the board we need to see our net migration figures come down.
“But that means a well-managed immigration system, it means controlling our borders, but it also means a skills systems to match.
“Because right now what’s happening is we don’t have a skill system to meet the needs of our population, and for many sectors, we don’t have fair pay and conditions to attract talent within our own country to want to go and work in those sectors, so we are using immigration as a short-term fix.”
Sir Keir announced changes to the migration system on Monday in a Downing Street address, including making migrants wait 10 years rather than five to apply for settlement or citizenship, increasing required standards of English for those coming to the UK, and tightening tests on colleges and universities offering places to foreign students. There will also be a ban on overseas recruitment of care workers.
The plans have caused some backlash within Labour, with the party’s former Scottish leader Kezia Dugdale telling Times Radio she was “angry” and “depressed” with the address, which she said was the “lowest point” of the party’s tenure in Government.
Asked what he made of her remarks, Mr Sarwar said: “Kezia’s entitled to her own views.”
