Sir Keir Starmer admitted Labour has been “squeamish about saying things that are clearly true” as the Prime Minister takes on Nigel Farage over migration.
Sir Keir said the immigration system needs to be “fair” to protect trust in politicians.
Otherwise, the Labour leader warned, it “undermines people’s faith that we are on their side”.
New shocking figures published by the Office for National Statistics revealed the scale of the challenge facing the Prime Minister, with some 1,235,254 having moved to the UK in the 12 months to June 2024.
And a record number of migrants crossed the Channel in the first eight months of this year, prompting fears Labour has lost control of the borders.
Sir Keir said: “For too many years, it’s been too easy for people to come here, slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally.
“Because, frankly, we have been squeamish about saying things that are clearly true.
“It’s not just that it is not compassionate, left-wing politics to rely on labour that exploits foreign workers and undercuts fair wages.
“But the simple fact that every nation needs to have control over its borders.
“We do need to know who is in our country.
“Our immigration system does need to be fair if we want to maintain that binding contract that our politics is built on.
“Otherwise, it undermines trust.
“Undermines people’s faith that we are on their side and their belief that the state can and will work for them.”
More than 32,000 migrants have crossed the Channel this year.
And people smugglers have vowed to expand their operations over the next year, launching bigger boats than ever before.
Some have warned the Prime Minister that migrants choose the UK over many other European countries because it is easier for them to vanish into the so-called black economy.
Sir Keir insisted this is why he is introducing digital ID cards for every adult in the UK.
Sir Keir said: “And that is why today I am announcing this Government will make a new, free of charge, digital ID mandatory for the right to work by the end of this parliament.
“Let me spell that out.
“You will not be able to work in the United Kingdom if you do not have digital ID.
“It’s as simple as that.
“Because decent, pragmatic, fair-minded people – they want us to tackle the issues that they see around them.
“And of course the truth is, we won’t solve our problems if we don’t also take on the root causes.
“Looking upstream to tackle poverty, conflict, climate change.
“Issues that aren’t just intolerable for those of us who care about inequality and injustice wherever it’s found in the world.
“But which have clear consequences for our own citizens.”
The ONS revealed the population grew by 755,254 in the year to June 2024, the second-highest year on record. The previous record was set a year before – 890,049.
This brings the UK population to 69.3 million, up by 1.1% on last year.
Net migration hit a staggering 906,000 in the year to June 2023, amid an influx of foreign students, a spike in non-EU workers, particularly in the health and social care sectors and the introduction of the Ukraine and Hong Kong refugee visa schemes, Office for National Statistics figures revealed.
Tighter controls introduced by the Conservatives on overseas workers and foreign students led to a fall of 435,000 to 431,000, from 866,000 in the year to December 2023.
The Tories in 2023 banned overseas care workers and foreign students from bringing their family members with them to the UK.
