Labour needs to set out a clearer agenda for European Union reform, including restrictions on immigrants claiming benefits for a year or more and compulsory language lessons, to help win back ground from the UK Independence party (Ukip), according to a new pamphlet from the Fabian Society.
The report, written by Mark Leonard of the European Council on Foreign Relations, suggests Labour should push for EU governments to issue social insurance cards for citizens moving to other member states and argue for the creation of a European migration adjustment fund in the EU's budget.
It also proposes that Labour should explore a mechanism for restricting EU migrants' claims for benefits, including child benefit and job seeker's allowance, for at least a year and make language lessons compulsory for migrants to the UK, as in other EU countries.
The report, entitled Europe was the future once … and how it can be again, also recommends that the party argues for much stronger EU action to stand up for the rights of consumers and break price-fixing cartels. Other suggestions include "sunset clauses" in future European legislation, stipulating that it must be returned to national parliaments after 15 years if national governments do not wish to see the law renewed, and a new digital bill of rights so that privacy is protected from intelligence agencies and large companies, including Google and Facebook.
In an effort to tackle the tricky issue of immigration head-on, it proposes that Ed Miliband should embark on a "European masochism strategy" by spending a week talking about a radical EU reform agenda that would be pursued by Labour. The Fabian Society suggests this could feature a "four ports tour", travelling to docks in Thurrock, Dover, Southampton and Grimsby, linking the "plight of blue collar workers who have been at the sharp end of globalisation and migration but whose future is linked to trade".
"Ukip could pose a bigger threat to Labour than the Tories by making it seem like part of the status quo and harvesting discontent with the government," Leonard said. "But there is still time to turn things around. Ed Miliband needs to engage with Europe personally to transform the way he is seen – from being a supporter of the status quo to setting [out] a radical reform agenda.
"Rather than defending Europe as it is, [he] should define what he wants Europe to be by showing how migration can be fair, how Europe can contribute to responsible capitalism, and the self-government of the British people."
Andrew Harrop, general secretary of the Fabian Society, added that Labour "urgently needs to redefine the terms of the debate on Europe if it is to end the slow sleepwalk to Brexit".
He said the ideas set out in the pamplet should "form the starting point for Labour's approach to the EU in a defining moment for Europe".
The pamphlet is published before a speech on Tuesday due to be given by Rachel Reeves, the shadow work and pensions secretary. Over the weekend she suggested Labour is prepared to look at stopping EU immigrants from claiming benefits unless they have first made National Insurance payments.
She told the Sun on Sunday: "It isn't right that somebody who has worked hard all their lives and has contributed to the system is entitled to only the same as somebody who has just come to this country. So we need to look at that. It shouldn't be that you can draw on the system without having contributed."
Her comments were made after Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said he believed the EU should "toughen up" the current rules and look at "fair movement, not free movement".
"We have lots of rules that fetter movement," he told the Telegraph. "We think you should toughen up those rules. You shouldn't be free to work in Britain and send back tax credits. You shouldn't be free to come to Britain and be unemployed. You shouldn't be free to come to Britain as soon as your country joins the EU. There will be people who say … that freedom of movement is good for the economy. But that is not the consensus of the vast majority … who don't say either [that we should] shut the borders.
"What I want is fair movement not free movement. It needs to be fair to people who come and work here, and fair to people in this country."
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