Labour accused of trying to rig elections allowing EU migrants to vote

Keir Starmer’s Labour accused of trying to rig future elections by allowing EU migrants and nationals to vote

• Sir Keir faced accusations party plans to hand millions of votes to EU residents
• The Labour leader faced accusations of a new bid to roll back Brexit over plans

Sir Keir Starmer was accused of trying to ‘gerrymander’ UK general elections over plans to hand millions of EU residents a vote in choosing British governments.

The Labour leader faced accusations of a new bid to roll back Brexit after reports said he planned to include the proposal in his party’s next manifesto.

It would potentially be coupled with votes for settled migrants as well as for 16 and 17-year-olds.

Last night, there were suggestions as many as four million EU nationals who lived in the UK and paid tax here could get a new right to vote in general elections.

It comes after Sir Keir, bidding to be Labour leader in January 2020, branded the treatment of EU residents after the Brexit referendum as ‘shameful’.

Sir Keir Starmer was accused of trying to ‘gerrymander’ UK general elections

Sir Keir, who had previously called for a second Brexit referendum, said: ‘The Government should give all EU nationals living in the UK full voting rights in future elections.’

He added: ‘They are our neighbours and friends and families.’

Yesterday, a Labour Party spokesman told the Sunday Telegraph that Sir Keir ‘fundamentally believes that if you work hard and contribute to this country…………….it is fair and right that you should also have a say in decisions being made for your community.’

But amid claims that migrants and younger voters would favour Labour, Tory MP and ex-Brexit Minister David Jones accused him of a ‘patent attempt to gerrymander the voting system in the UK, which should be rejected by all reasonable politicians.’

He added: ‘Even when we were in the EU, EU nationals here couldn’t vote in general elections in this country.

‘It makes no logical sense at all now that we have left.

‘But then Starmer has spent the last seven years trying to water down Brexit.’

Labour to make working from home a ‘human right’ as part of election manifesto as well as new proposal making it easier for workers to strike 

By James Callery 

Labour plans to give people the legal right to work from home as part of its election manifesto, as well as making it easier for workers to strike.

The policy to make flexible working the default option is featured in an extensive list of proposals being formally weighed up, which has been leaked.

The key line proposes: ‘Make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, except where it is not reasonably feasible.’

It comes at a time when there are escalating fears that Britain’s poor productivity is having a negative impact on economic recovery. 

The position was first set out by the party in July 2021, when Angela Rayner, Labour’s Deputy Leader, said it was ‘not just about working from home’ but also broader flexible working rights.

Pictured: Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (File photo). The policy to make flexible working the default option is featured in an extensive list of proposals being formally weighed up, which has been leaked 

The key line proposes: ‘Make flexible working the default from day one for all workers, except where it is not reasonably feasible’ (Stock image)

Other examples included flexible hours, staggered hours, compressed hours, annualised hours, and flexibility around school runs and other family and caring responsibilities.

This sharply contrasts with the Conservative Party’s stance, with prime ministers trying to lure people back into the office after the Coronavirus pandemic.

Increasing the likelihood of people working from home could jeopardise the push to improve the UK’s productivity, which trails behind some of the other major economies and is seen as vital for securing improved growth in the long term.

In a further blow to those imperiled by the cost of living crisis, the Bank of England this week hiked interest rates up 0.25 percentage points to 4.5 per cent – a new 15-year high.

It is the 12th consecutive bump and a peak since October 2008, when the credit crunch sent the level tumbling.

It means that around 2.2million people with variable rate mortgages will face immediate increases in their bills.

Pictured Sir Keir Starmer with cabinet memers (File photo). The working from home policy outlined in the leaked document sharply contrasts with the Conservative Party’s stance, with prime ministers trying to lure people back into the office after the Coronavirus pandemic

The working from home policy was one of several bold proposals in the leaked 86-page ‘policy handbook’ which has been circulated prior to Labour’s National Policy Forum (NPF).

The contents of the document were obtained and published by the Left-leaning political website Labour List.

A number of the policies in the document are not new and fit in with the party’s public stance.

The document was recently circulated to stakeholders in the party, confirming that its policies are likely being considered for the party’s next manifesto.

The NPF will be meeting to discuss the policies this summer and there will be further debate at Labour’s party conference this autumn.

The Labour leadership and the shadow cabinet will have the final say on which policies feature in the manifesto, with the membership and trade unions also consulted.

The document is the clearest indication yet of which direction Sir Keir Starmer’s government would take if he was triumphant in the next election, which is expected in 2024.

Pictured: Sir Keir Starmer (File photo). The contents of the document were obtained and published by the Left-leaning political website Labour List

The Labour leader has faced criticism for playing it safe when it comes to revealing policies.

The party did not contest the accuracy of the contents of the leaked document on Friday. 

Labour increased its poll lead over the Conservatives to 16 points after last week’s local elections, which saw Sir Keir Starmer make gains while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered humiliating losses.

A new Savanta survey, conducted between May 5 and May 7, straight after the elections, put Labour on 46 per cent of the vote and the Conservative Party on 30 per cent.

Labour was up two points when compared to a poll conducted between April 28 and April 30, while the Conservatives saw a one point decrease, as Labour’s overall lead jumped by three points.

The 16 point lead for Labour is the biggest recorded in a Savanta poll since the start of April.

A number of policy proposals in the leaked document, which had some input from trade unions, indicate that the party wants to make it easier for unionised workers to take industrial action.

Pictured: The main departure boards showing no trains at London Charing Cross railway station today due to train strikes

Labour wants to repeal the Trade Union Act 2016, which brought in higher thresholds for the number of members of a trade union that had to vote for a strike in order for it to be legal.

Half of all union members were required to vote in a ballot on strike action for it to be legal.

In services such as school education and health, 40 per cent of all members had to explicitly vote for strike action.

The policy document also discusses ending the Tories’ drive to legally require striking trade unions in critical national infrastructure areas to give a minimum level of service during industrial action.

It also mentions ’empowering workers to organise collectively through trade unions’ and the desire to ‘strengthen and update the rights of working people’.

Overall, it points to Sir Keir’s government pushing towards increasing union powers and scrapping rules that inhibit their ability to launch strikes.

The stance is likely to be divisive as the UK has experienced several bouts of industrial action over the last year, including from nurses, rail workers, civil servants and postal workers.

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