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Why the best news from the Labour Party conference was a vote for free movement

19 September 2019

Freedom of movement is one of the crucial pillars of the single market and not taking it off the table might well allow Britain to really have a Brexit deal with the benefits of the single market, or at the very least a Brexit deal full stop.

The Labour Party conference this year was not short of controversial moments and proposals.

But one motion that perhaps did not get the praise it deserved, and for me was perhaps the best thing to come out of this summer’s conference was a motion to reverse some of the more reactionary trends in immigration and embrace free movement.

Yes, perhaps as an immigration lawyer I would say this, though it might mean less work for me.

But the motion not only brings some much-needed humanity and common sense into immigration policy, it offers a lot of realism and a practical way out of the current crippling Brexit deadlock.