Keir Starmer has promised to slash immigration from ‘sky high’ numbers if Labour wins the election.
The Labour leader said last year’s net migration figure of 685,000 has “got to come down” and vowed to “control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first”.
He also hit out at successive Conservative governments for promising but failing to cut numbers.
But the move risks a backlash from sections within his own party.
Labour came under fire from its own activists in 2015 after it released a branded mug that promised “Controls on immigration”.
The migration plan will be part of Labour’s election manifesto.
Included will be new laws to ban law-breaking employers from hiring foreign workers and to train more Britons.
A Labour government would bar bosses who break employment law – for example by failing to pay workers the minimum wage – from hiring staff from overseas.
It would also legislate to link the immigration system to training, with businesses applying for foreign worker visas having to also train Britons to do the jobs.
But Sir Keir declined to set out a target level for net migrant numbers – or a timeline.
The immigration debate has been fuelled by the latest figures, which were published a day after Rishi Sunak called the surprise election date.
Sir Keir told The Sun on Sunday: “Read my lips – I will bring immigration numbers down.
“If you trust me with the keys to No 10 I will make you this promise: I will control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first.”
He added: “This is a changed Labour Party back in the service of working people.
“That means not just talking about sky-high migration but acting on it.”
He said the 685,000 migration number is “the second highest on record” and “it’s got to come down”.
“I’m not going to duck the challenge.”
Sir Keir said employers have become “too reliant” on workers from overseas and “should always have a choice of recruiting a British worker first”.
The Migration Advisory Committee, Industrial Strategy Council and Skills England would be brought together to carry out the plan.
Sir Keir said this would also help reduce the benefits bill.
The Labour leader hit out at successive Conservative governments for failing to cut numbers.
“The Conservatives repeatedly say they are going to cut these numbers,” Sir Keir said. “They have never done it. They have completely failed.
“They have never had a strategy to deal with it.”