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Ed Miliband should tackle immigration says MP

Tim Iredale|18:51 UK time, Friday, 24 September 2010

Ed Miliband

This week marks the start of a new era for the Labour Party.

As Ed Miliband gets down to the serious business of fronting Her Majesty's opposition, attention will begin to turn to policy rather than personality.

I asked a number of Labour MPs from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to outline the direction they believe the party should take, following Labour's second worst election defeat since 1918.

Some responses were not surprising. Great Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell - who describes himself as "not so much Old Labour, positively geriatric" - talks about a new focus on "redistribution" and a crackdown on wealthy tax evaders.

Scunthorpe MP and former college principal Nic Dakin wants education to be a priority for the new leader and told me he hoped the new regime would trust professionals in the jobs they do and not "mess around with structures."

However, Karl Turner - Labour MP for Hull East - takes a much tougher line on Labour's failings in the May election. He tells this week's Politics Show in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire: "I think we've got to look at where we went wrong. Immigration on the doorstep was a massive issue for me and I think we need to address that issue."

He added: "There were also issues around Europe, we need to address that, but I think immigration is the issue which the leader will need to deal with. We have got to be honest about where we went wrong, accept the responsibility of what we did in government, which was not very good for the electorate and move forward."

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