Burnham sounds like 'paler version' of Farage, says Clarke
The Conservative former cabinet minister takes a dig at the Manchester mayoral candidate over his comments on free movement.
Sunday 11 December 2016 15:49, UK
Tory veteran Ken Clarke has accused senior Labour MP Andy Burnham of sounding "like a paler version of Nigel Farage" over his calls to curb immigration.
The Conservative big-hitter had a dig at the Manchester mayoral candidate, who has insisted clamping down on freedom of movement had to be a priority following the EU referendum result.
Mr Burnham argued it was a tightening of the rules that people voted for on 23 June as he highlighted the "negative effects" of the policy, including the downward pressure on wages and impact on services.
However, his stance puts him at odds with members of his party's own front bench.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has stressed the importance of the economy during Brexit negotiations and argued freedom of movement was "inextricably linked" with access to the single market.
Speaking on Sky News' Murnaghan programme, Mr Burnham said: "I think what's got to happen is people have got to go back to what people voted for.
"Here in Greater Manchester people quite clearly voted for a change to the current freedom of movement rules.
"That is the starting point it seems to me in this debate."
He said people in the area he was seeking to represent did not vote on the single market.
He added: "I believe we have got to have a system that is more linked to people coming to fill a specific job in the labour market rather than speculative free movement."
Mr Burnham argued the latter had caused some "quite difficult challenges" in Greater Manchester.
He said: "We need a system that affords greater control that allows us to bring people to work here come and contribute to our economy and our society, but also deal with the negative effects of full free movement, which has seen downward pressure on wages, but also pressure on primary schools, GP services."
But responding to his comments, Mr Clarke likened the Labour politician to the former UKIP leader, as he insisted Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson remained pro-immigration.
Mr Clarke told Sky News: "I would point out, unlike Andy going on about free movement of labour and sounding a bit like a paler version of Nigel Farage, Boris has never been anti-immigrant."
On BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show, Ms Abbott said: "We believe in regional autonomy and Andy (Burnham) has always had those views.
"But the truth is you cannot have access to the single market without a measure of freedom of movement.
"My experiences of Labour Party members all over the country want immigration rules that are fair and they want reasonable management of migration."
She added that it "would be wrong to put the economy anything other than first" as part of Brexit talks.