Labour pledge to get tough on immigration draws flak

A Labour election campaign leaflet promising a "tough new approach" to immigration has been attacked by a Labour MP as a "race to the bottom" to compete with Ukip.

David Lammy, the member for Tottenham and a London mayoral hopeful, tweeted: “Surprised this is a Labour flyer. We're a pro-immigration party: let's not race to the bottom trying to out-kip UKIP.”

The leaflet promised "Labour will stop people claiming benefit until they have lived here for at least two years" and "Labour will make sure all frontline public sector staff can speak English".

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Lammy’s reaction shows the risk Labour takes when it tries to address immigration – an issue so important to the electorate that it came second only to the NHS and way above the economy in a recent survey of voter concerns.

Yet both Labour and the Tories are loathe to address immigration because it gives Nigel Farage the chance to point up the failure of successive governments to curb the number of people coming into the country.

Lord Ashcroft, who makes a speciality of polling in the marginal seats, says both Ed Miliband and David Cameron ignore the issue at their peril. The rise of Ukip, he told Sky News, is a direct result of the Conservatives' “arrogance” and Labour's "complacency" in shying away from the electorate’s concerns.

Immigration is not the only issue the two main parties would rather not discuss in the election campaign: there’s also the EU (another Ukip issue, of course) and the replacement for Trident.

• Countdown to 7 May: check The Week's daily election round-up

Labour know that going into an election promising to scrap the nation’s nuclear deterrent would be disastrous – but most within the party would much rather spend the money on the NHS, if they had the choice. The Tories are committed to replacing Trident, despite it costing an extra £50-100 billion at a time when the country is strapped for cash.

All of which explains why, when it came to Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, Cameron and Miliband were once again locking horns over their core issues - the NHS for Miliband and the economy for Cameron.

The Prime Minister threw up a smokescreen against Labour claims of a crisis in the NHS by accusing Miliband of privately telling the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson he wanted to "weaponise" the NHS, a charge he refused to deny.

It is hardly surprising that, given their lack of ambition, both parties are neck and neck in the latest polls. The question now is whether Cameron or Miliband will be bold enough to pull away before polling day on 7 May.