𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

But Baroness Harman insisted it was “wrong” for Ms Rayner to take aim at the proposals without suggesting an alternative. She told Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast: “Immigration is now, if you look at the opinion polls and just listen on the doorstep, the second most important issue to people after the cost of living.

“To just wave it away as an issue and say it’s un-British to exercise extra controls… what is she suggesting instead?

“Is she saying it doesn’t matter that people are concerned about immigration or this is the wrong policy and we should be trying something else?

“It’s just a negative intervention. It didn’t have any proposals about what should be done.

“I just don’t think she should be doing this. I think it’s wrong for her and it’s certainly wrong for the party and the Government.”

Ms Rayner, who quit the Cabinet in a row over her tax affairs last year, hit out at Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plans at an event by campaign group Mainstream earlier this week.

She said: “We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goalposts, because moving the goalposts undermines our sense of fair play. It’s un-British.”

Cabinet minister Steve Reed this morning admitted there is a “robust” debate within Labour over the policy.

He said: “We have robust debates inside the Labour Party, as we do across politics, but the Government was absolutely clear: we were elected on a manifesto commitment to bring in an immigration system that works for Britain and is fair to those who need and deserve to seek asylum in this country.

“We’re consulting on that right now and the Home Secretary will announce the outcome from that consultation in due course.”