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“HYSTERICAL” Labour MPs are pressing Ed Miliband to “out-Ukip Ukip,” left-wing parliamentarian Diane Abbott warned yesterday.
The outburst came as top EU bureaucrat Jose Manuel Barroso said a Tory plan to limit European migration would be “illegal.”
Prime Minister David Cameron plans to impose a cap on the number of national insurance numbers issued to low-skilled migrants.
European Commission president Mr Barroso said on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “In principle arbitrary caps seem in contradiction with European Union rules.”
The Tory PM is likely to insist on the cap in his blundering attempt to “renegotiate” Britain’s relationship with Brussels.
But Ms Abbott, who is widely expected to seek selection as Labour’s London mayoral candidate, branded the announcement “just spin.”
“In reality, they won’t be able to do it,” she said.
“Of course there is a problem with low wages and insecurity. But you deal with that, you don’t scapegoat migrants.”
“I have said it to Ed. The trouble is that some Labour MPs are getting hysterical. They are repeating things that aren’t true.”
But Labour immigration spokesman David Hanson said the front bench held firm with the party’s recent trend of anti-immigrant rhetoric.
He said: “We do need reforms to the free movement rules — which is why Labour has already put forward practical plans to stop people travelling to claim benefits, deport people who commit crimes, and stop employers undercutting local jobs and wages with cheap migrant labour.
“We want to see fair movement, not free movement.”
