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"Massive task"?

Impossible, I would say. Its become clear to all and sundry that Labour have an incurable addiction to public sector overspending. Their activists are far left-wing, while their words to get elected try desperately to be centrist. That little game won't wash with the voting public again. Time for a new, honestly centre, opposition party.

Well Mountain of Light, I think you're wrong. As a 63 year old single lady pensioner living on a small fixed income, I really don't regard myself as "far left-wing" - just a person who feels that the currently completed detached people living in the coalition world have an acutely cruel and unfair attitude to those less advantaged than themselves. Some of the utterly contemptible withdrawals of support being planned for disabled, sick, elderly, children, care homes, youth clubs, safe homes, etc., are, in my humble opinion, going to make the UK (or should I say, English in particular) society one in which only the very rich will "live" properly. Middle income and lower income, and no income citizens will be pushed in to despair.

You may not belong to one of those disadvantaged groups, who knows? But a caring thought for other humans is what makes us worthwhile humans, I believe.

The report reads:
"..Immigration was the policy issue that played hardest across Eastern England. Only very rarely did it appear in the form of racial prejudice (although it was noted in some seats with retired and relocated white Londoners). Most often, voters expressed the view that the consequences of the scale of immigration resulted in a reduction in employment opportunity; downward pressure on wages for skilled working class trades
(such as construction); housing shortages; and pressure on public services such as schools.

Another reason that voters were angry about immigration was the perception that migrants often got jobs and housing ahead of people who had paid their taxes for many years and that this was simply unfair. Above all immigration was seen to be out of control and Labour had failed to control it.

The region has particular characteristics that made immigration more of a political problem than elsewhere. Most of it (Peterborough, Bedford and Luton aside) does not have much history of ethnic diversity. There was more of a cultural disconnection between migrant communities, including those from within the EU, in the East than elsewhere and probably more mutual misunderstanding.

The other reason that people in the East felt it was such an issue was because of growing population – there was no housing stock to absorb extra population and the result was either rising prices or overcrowding, which established residents dislike because it makes the area as a whole seem shabby.

They blamed Labour as the government party of course, but also felt that we were too intolerant and didactic about the way we approached the issue. ‘We gave people the impression that we wouldn’t allow them to talk about it’.

and goes on;

"...We have to have a clear message on immigration. It is not enough to say that you can talk about it, it’s not racist – we need to address the fairness issue. We need to have a story about keeping the numbers under control, and the simplistic Tory answers from the 2010 campaign will have been discredited by the time of the general election. People will be disillusioned with the Tories but we need an answer that is, and is felt to be, fair both to the British (regardless of their ethnicity or origin) and to immigrants.

The concept of an ‘orderly queue’ and ‘fairness’ in allocation of public services, as understood by the voters, needs to be taken on board by Labour. We also need to see immigration in terms of fair employment conditions. It is a fair point for a skilled worker, who has spent time and money studying and training for their trade to worry about being undercut by unregulated competition from people who do not have the same professional credentials..."

So reading between the lines: under another Labour government immigration will not stop. Ending immigration is not even a consideration. Nor can voters expect cuts in immigration, which is described as a 'simplistic solution'.

So in short, the message of this report to the Labour party is one of 'business as usual' on immigration, which they are advised to massage and feed to the public as 'being tough'. No thanks.