RESIDENTS put their views and fears over the level of immigration in Bolton West to shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper during an event in Atherton.

The Labour MP attended a consultation event organised by Bolton West MP Julie Hilling, as the party looks to show it is taking the concerns of people over immigration seriously.

During the event, held in the Independent Methodist Church in Mealhouse Lane, people were asked whether they felt learning English should be compulsory for new arrivals in the UK, whether they believed immigration had an impact on public services and should housing provision be restricted to residents who had lived in the area for a certain number of years.

Ms Cooper said she believed it was important to listen to people’s views on immigration, with the view that it would inform the policies of a future Labour government, should they win the May General Election — and accepted the party had ‘got it wrong’ in the past.

“It is really interesting talking to people and listening to people’s views, because really what we’re hearing is immigration is important to people but it has to be properly controlled and managed, so that the system is fair”, she said.

“There are things that we got wrong in government. The things that we did do is introduced the points-based system for non-EU migrants, and we also introduced some of the improvements around the border control, but I think we need to go much further now.

“We should just recognise that sometimes, there are things I would strongly support to the hilt – so some of the things we did in the National Health Service, Sure Start, where I think the Labour government did amazing things.

“There are other areas where we should just be honest – there are some things that we got wrong and we are taking a different approach now. So the question is how do you learn from that.”

If Labour won the General Election, she added, they would employ 1,000 more border staff paid for by extra visa charges to bolster immigration checks, and make changes to the way people’s criminal records are checked before they come into the country.

The party has also pledged to take stronger action against employment agencies that undercut jobs and wages by only advertising jobs abroad, backed up by stronger enforcement of the minimum wage and scrapping zero hour contracts.

UKIP, Ms Cooper insists, do not have practical solutions to the problems surrounding immigration, but shouldn’t be dismissed as a racist party.

She told The Bolton News: “The problem with UKIP is that if you look at some of the things UKIP candidates have said – for example we have one who said that Lenny Henry should leave the country because of the colour of his skin. That’s racist.

“I don’t think it is racist to talk about immigration and to talk about stronger border controls, for example, and think what we are having today is a positive debate about different aspects of immigration.

“Immigration policy is complicated, but you can do that in a way that doesn’t try to divide communities, that doesn’t try to provoke hostility and that doesn’t try to create an arms race of rhetoric — because I think that is what you have got from UKIP.

“They are trying to divide people and trying to provoke hostility, rather than set out practical answers.”

What do you think? Send your thoughts to letters@theboltonnews.co.uk