Ed Miliband says curbing non-EU immigration to be Labour priority and large firms will be required to train a British apprentice for each non-EU worker they hire
BBC News reported yesterday that Labour leader Ed Miliband said curbing non-European Union immigration would be a priority for his party should it win the election.
Miliband told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "In our first year in office we will legislate for an immigration bill which has secure control of our borders, cracks down on exploitation of workers coming here undercutting workers already here, and says to big companies that bring in people from outside the EU that they can do that, within a cap, but they have got to train the next generation."
The Telegraph quoted Miliband as saying: "I do want to get low skill immigration down and therefore overall immigration down, yes."
According to the Mirror, under Labour's plan, firms with 50 or more staff would be required to train a British apprentice for each worker they hire from outside the European Union.
Miliband told the Sunday Mirror that the scheme is aimed at companies who hire an estimated 40,000 workers from outside the European Union each year as a "quick fix" instead of training unemployed Britons.
"Any firm that wants to bring in a foreign worker from outside the EU will also have to train up someone who is a local worker," Miliband explained.