The Right Language For The Left

It was always going to be a Labour Leader, once Britain once again had such a figure, who would say that we could not deliver the welfare provisions and the other public services that our people have rightly come to expect unless we know how many people there are in this country, unless we control immigration properly, and unless we insist that everyone use spoken and written English to the necessary level. There is a reason why the main voice in favour of unrestricted immigration is Boris Johnson, and why London was the only place where his party could win this year.

Ed Miliband now needs to go further, and point out that, just as there cannot and must not be a "free" market in labour but not in goods, services and capital, so there cannot and must not be a "free" market in goods, services and capital but not in labour. Again, the statement of this simple fact was always going to come from the Left, and was always going to express the re-emergence of the Left, as such, in British politics.