Labour “not wedded” to free movement of people

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of a speech later today, Labour leader Jeremy ‎Corbyn said that Labour is “not wedded” to free movement of people as a matter of principle. Mr Corbyn ‎said the focus should be ending the exploitation of low-skilled workers and an emphasis on local ‎recruitment, and whilst EU migrants should have the right to travel to the UK, any right to work would be ‎part of Brexit negotiations. The statement, which is at odds with the position Mr Corbyn took just a few ‎months ago, comes in the wake of a number of senior Labour MPs calls for the party to change its ‎position on free movement. ‎

Mr Corbyn was due to make his first major speech of 2017 in Peterborough today, in which he would set ‎out his latest thinking on Brexit and the Government’s approach to its negotiations with the EU. Mr ‎Corbyn is due to argue that the UK can be better off outside the EU and that his party wants “managed ‎migration” and to repatriate powers from Brussels to allow the UK government to intervene in struggling ‎industries. Mr Corbyn will insist that the Labour party will fight for a Brexit “that works not just for City ‎interests, but in the interests of us all”.‎