Transgender athletes may have to compete alongside their biological sex under the Conservatives' plans to "clarify" equality laws, Kemi Badenoch has said.
The cabinet minister told Sky News her party is "not giving instructions" to different sporting bodies, but rather "making it very clear what the law is, that there is a difference between identifying as a different gender and what your biological sex is".
As part of their latest election offer, the Tories last night pledged to change the Equality Act to define the protected characteristic of sex as "biological sex".
In the past, critics have accused the Conservatives of seeking to stoke divisions and demonise transgender people in the search for votes - with concerns raised about what this could mean for sport and access to female-only spaces.
Asked what the law would mean in practice for transgender athletes, Ms Badenoch said it would not bar them from competing but in some cases they "may have to compete with their biological sex".
She said: "We believe that sports is something where there are sex categories for a specific reason.
"People compete in women's sports because they're biological women, not because they identify as women. It is for sporting bodies to be able to manage that.
"Transgender athletes are not stopped for competing. They may, in some cases, have to compete with their biological sex."
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Asked which toilets the government intends for transgender people to use, Ms Badenoch said: "We have not said that transgender people can't use specific toilets. What we have said is that they [businesses] must provide toilets for single sexes as well.
"And if you provide for all, that is genuine inclusion. The sort of inclusion that people are doing are actually exclusive to women."
The Equality Act currently states that an individual must not be discriminated against on the basis of their sex.
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1:46
Trans golfer on hatred after tournament win
Ms Badenoch, the women and equalities minister, stressed the reforms would not be a "change", but rather "re-emphasising what should be the status quo".
"Sex and gender were used interchangeably," she said. "What we're doing is making sure that people understand what the law says. We've seen a lot of problems with people misinterpreting the law."
Challenged about why the government hasn't already made the change if it was such a big problem, Ms Badenoch said the "biggest reason" was because the SNP's controversial gender recognition legislation "took up quite a lot of bandwidth".
Ms Badenoch first mooted the idea in April last year after writing to parliament's human rights watchdog for advice about it.
At the time, LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall said the proposal risked "opening yet another chapter in a manufactured culture war that will see little benefit to women, cis and trans alike".
Labour said it would not amend the Equality Act if elected because there are already provisions to protect single-sex spaces, so the government's plans are "not needed".
Speaking to Times Radio, shadow defence secretary John Healey said: "What is needed is clearer guidance for service providers, from the NHS to sports bodies, and in prisons, on what single-sex exemptions need to be, and the best way to be able to do that is in guidance, not primary legislation."
The Lib Dems accused the Tories of waging "phoney culture wars" while Lee Anderson, the former Tory deputy chairman turned Reform candidate, called it "madness".
Announcing the pledge last night, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the safety of women and girls "is too important to allow the current confusion around definitions of sex and gender to persist".
Ms Badenoch, who has spoken frequently in the Commons on the issue, said the change in the law needs to occur because public bodies are now acting out of "fear of being accused of transphobia".
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The Conservatives said the proposed change to the law will not remove the existing and continuing protections against discrimination on the basis of gender reassignment provided by the Equality Act.
The sex of those with a Gender Recognition Certificate will still align with their acquired gender in law outside the Equality Act, for example, marriage law, as is the status quo.
Under the proposed scheme, the Conservatives will also establish in law that gender recognition is a reserved matter, as they say "this will mean that an individual can only have one sex in the eyes of the law in the United Kingdom".
The Conservatives have promised to amend the Equality Act to ensure the protected characteristic of sex is defined as "biological sex".
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the "safety of women and girls" meant the "current confusion around definitions of sex and gender" cannot be allowed to continue.
The Tories say their election pledge will make it simpler for service providers for women and girls, such as those running sessions for domestic abuse victims, to stop biological males from taking part.
Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party (SNP) have not yet commented on the proposals.
The Conservatives are presenting their pledge as a matter of privacy and principle.
But it is also an issue that may appeal to socially conservative voters who previously voted for the party but, polls suggest, might not vote for them this time.
Tory strategists hope it will also put other parties on the spot about where they stand on the issue.
Critics have, in the past, accused the Conservatives of seeking to stoke divisions and demonise vulnerable transgender people in the search for votes.
The party says that since the Equality Act was introduced in 2010, it has not kept up with "evolving interpretations" of sex and gender.
Under the plans, existing protections for transgender people would remain.
Some interpret sex as referring strictly to biological sex, while others believe it also applies to people with a gender recognition certificate; a legal document that allows someone to change the legal sex on their birth certificate.
Mr Sunak said: “The safety of women and girls is too important to allow the current confusion around definitions of sex and gender to persist.
“The Conservatives believe that making this change in law will enhance protections in a way that respects the privacy and dignity of everyone in society."
Writing in the Times, the minister for women and equalities, Kemi Badenoch, said "clarification" was needed as "it is clear public authorities and regulatory bodies are confused about what the law says and what to do".
She claimed the changes would provide new protections for biological women in places such as hospital wards and rape crisis centres.
Ms Badenoch also took aim at Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for "going round in circles on the issue".
The Conservatives have also committed to making gender reassignment a reserved issue; meaning it would be uniform policy across the UK nations.
This comes after the UK government last year intervened to stop Scotland enacting its Gender Recognition Reform Bill.
Ms Badenoch said in the Times: "We are one United Kingdom and it is impracticable for gender recognition regimes to vary in different parts of the country. So, we will also legislate to establish that gender recognition is a reserved matter."
The Equality Act 2010 already allows service providers to exclude certain groups if doing so is considered a "proportionate means" of achieving a "legitimate aim".
In 2022, the UK's equality watchdog, The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), published guidance for service providers wishing to keep spaces single-sex, including examples of when they can legally exclude certain groups in order to do so.
One such example was around access to domestic abuse refuges, with the EHRC advising it would be legal to bar trans women from the refuge, if female survivors indicated they felt uncomfortable.
However, the Conservatives say the existing law is not "sufficiently clear" on when it means biological sex and when it means gender.
In 2022, Judge Lady Haldane concludedthe definition of sex in the act was "not limited to biological or birth sex" after a group of campaigners launched a legal case around gender balance on public boards in Scotland.
The Conservatives argue the "ambiguity" of the law means single-sex service providers are often "vulnerable" to legal challenges, and that women and girls' safety is at risk.
The proposed law change would apply whether or not the person has a gender recognition certificate.
It's not the first time the Conservatives have spoken about amending the Equality Act.
In 2023, Ms Badenoch wrote to the EHRC for advice on the impact of doing so.
The EHRC's chair Baroness Kishwer Falkner said it would give clarity in a "polarised and contentious" area, but also warned a change could be "more ambiguous" than the current definition of sex in relation to equal pay and sex discrimination.
She said any changes to the law would need detailed analysis of possible disadvantages for trans men and women in these areas.
Hospital patients are "dying in corridors", nurses have warned as they declared a "national emergency" in the NHS.
Patients are regularly treated on chairs in corridors for extended periods of time - and sometimes even days, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said.
They are also receiving cancer diagnoses in public areas, and may have to undergo intimate examinations there too, the union added.
A survey of almost 11,000 frontline nursing staff across the UK shows the practice has become widespread, the RCN said.
When asked about their most recent shift, almost two in five reported delivering care in an inappropriate area, such as a corridor.
Patient privacy and dignity had been compromised, almost seven in 10 said.
"You wouldn't treat a dog this way," one nurse said.
Another nurse recounted a patient with dementia being in a corridor for hours without oxygen.
They said: "When I arrived, she was in a wheelchair on a corridor with her daughter. She was extremely agitated, crying and confused. This care environment for any patient, never mind with dementia, was completely inappropriate."
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The RCN's acting general secretary, Professor Nicola Ranger, will declare a national emergency at the start of the union's annual conference.
The organisation will also publish a report on clinical care in inappropriate areas.
In order to show how widespread the practice has become, the RCN is calling for mandatory reporting of patients cared for in corridors.
"Our once world-leading services are treating patients in car parks and store cupboards," Prof Ranger will tell delegates.
"The elderly are languishing on chairs for hours on end and patients are dying in corridors. The horror of this situation cannot be understated.
"It is a national emergency for patient safety and today we are raising the alarm."
She will add: "Receiving a cancer diagnosis in a public area isn't care. It's a nightmare for all involved. We need to call it out as nursing staff, and health leaders and ministers need to take responsibility."
Corridor care is a "symptom of a system in crisis", the RCN's report says, with patient demand in all settings, from primary to community and social care, outstripping workforce supply.
Kemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives will change the Equality Act to rewrite the definition of sex and allow organisations to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces, including hospital wards and sports events.
The party will make clear that the protected characteristic of sex means biological sex, enabling those who wish to bar male-bodied people from organisations or activities to do so.
Badenoch said it would provide reassurance for services such as those aimed at domestic abuse victims.
“Whether it is rapists being housed in women’s prisons, or instances of men playing in women’s sports where they have an unfair advantage, it is clear that public authorities and regulatory bodies are confused about what the law says on sex and gender and when to act – often for fear of being accused of transphobia, or not being inclusive,” Badenoch said.
“That is why we are today pledging that, if we form a government after the election, we will clarify that sex in the law means biological sex and not new, redefined meanings of the word. The protection of women and girls’ spaces is too important to allow the confusion to continue.”
Last year, Badenoch asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to advise on the change. The equalities watchdog said the new definition would make it possible to exclude trans people from same-sex spaces even if they hold a gender recognition certificate (GRC).
Badenoch said on Sunday that she had concluded the law needed to be changed in order to provide protections based on biological sex, saying it was crucial to allow single-sex groups to meet without those of the opposite biological sex.
The law will still protect against discrimination based on the status of gender reassignment, the Conservatives said.
The party also said it would change the law to make gender recognition a reserved matter which only the UK government could legislate on, a reaction to the row over the Scottish gender recognition bill, which was blocked by Westminster.
Announcing the change, Rishi Sunak said that he wanted to enshrine the right to single-sex spaces in law.
“The safety of women and girls is too important to allow the current confusion around definitions of sex and gender to persist,” he said.
“The Conservatives believe that making this change in law will enhance protections in a way that respects the privacy and dignity of everyone in society. We are taking an evidence-led approach to this issue so we can continue to build a secure future for everyone across the whole country.”
Sunak and the Conservatives have used the row over gender and trans rights as a key plank of their election strategy against Labour and Keir Starmer.
The EHRC had advised that the change would make it simpler for groups and services to exclude trans people even if they hold an official certificate recognising their gender but said the government should carefully consider that any change could have “possible disadvantages for trans men and trans women”.
The change would allow political parties to restrict trans women with a GRC from benefiting from “women-only” shortlists and other measures aimed at increasing female participation.
It would also make it more straightforward for hospitals to restrict trans women from certain female wards, where at present service-providers must “conduct a careful balancing exercise to justify excluding all trans women”.
Listing off what he describes as some of the Scottish government's recent achievements in the cost of living crisis, Swinney tells supporters: "Your SNP government has transformed lives in Scotland and we have a record to be proud of."
"As junior doctors call strike action in England, Scotland is the only place in the UK where there has been no strikes because we have invested in pay for staff," he goes on, saying that the state of the NHS and cost of living remain top priorities for the SNP.
"We will always put Scotland's interests first," Swinney adds as he turns to independence.
He says he's looked closely at other countries in Europe, such as Denmark, Norway and Ireland, as a "model of what is possible" for an independent Scotland: "Those countries are wealthier than the UK, they are fairer with greater equality, they have higher productivity and lower poverty.
Highlighting the country's universities, energy sector and industry, he asks: "Then why not Scotland?"
UK general election latest: Diane Abbott may not stand, suggests ally
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Updated 9 minutes ago
Rishi Sunak focuses on health and John Swinney launches the SNP’s campaign as Sir Keir Starmer seeks to move on from ‘purge’ row with pledge on immigration
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to control Britain’s borders as he seeks to refocus his campaign as the row over whether Diane Abbott will be a Labour candidate rumbles on
Sir Keir Starmer is vowing to cut immigration as he seeks to move on from the row over an apparent purge of left-wing figures and the question of whether Diane Abbott will be a candidate.
Rishi Sunak, who has remained cheerful despite a deficit in opinion polls, is campaigning in London and focusing on healthcare, and John Swinney launches the SNP’s campaign in Glasgow.
8 minutes ago
12.10pm
Is Sunak’s smile just a mask?
Rishi Sunak seems surprisingly upbeat for a man who might be about to lose his job.
His speech at Redcar racecourse was a notable bouncy affair, despite the fact that the first seat-by-seat analysis has put the Tories on course for a devastating defeat. The poll from the Electoral Calculus suggests the party is putting together its worst performance ever and will win just 66 seats.
Behind the scenes, the Tories are worried and trying desperately to raise £10 million in a fortnight. But, according to one his aides, “the PM is incredibly pumped up”.
The leader of Plaid Cymru has said accused Sir Keir Starmer of acting as “the puppet master” after two of the Labour leader’s allies were installed as candidates in safe Welsh seats.
Rhun ap Iorwerth told Sky News that Starmer presided over “parachuting of candidates last-minute to Wales”.
Torsten Bell, the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation think tank, has been selected as the Labour candidate for Swansea East. Alex Barros-Curtis, the party’s director of legal who was at the centre of Starmer’s early efforts to root out antisemitism in the party, is now the Labour candidate in Cardiff West.
48 minutes ago
11.30am
Cleverly: Starmer ‘keeps foreign criminals in the UK’
The home secretary said the Labour leader has “a track record of supporting high immigration levels”
ALAMY
The home secretary has accused Sir Keir Starmer of lacking “conviction” after Labour said it would not set a target for cutting net migration.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, had told the BBC the party would neither set a target nor a deadline for the move.
Referring to Starmer’s time as director of public prosecutions, James Cleverly said the Labour leader “has a track record of supporting high immigration levels and helping foreign criminals stay in Britain because he believes all immigration law is racist”.
He added: “This is yet another day where Starmer will say what he thinks people want to hear during an election because he lacks conviction to say what he believes. A Labour government would allow open-door immigration, making the UK a magnet for illegal migrants. Only Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives are committed to cutting migration and stopping the boats.”
58 minutes ago
11.20am
MPs are not guaranteed peerages, says Cooper
“No party can make that sort of commitment,” said the shadow home secretary
MARK THOMAS/ALAMY
Yvette Cooper has claimed that Labour cannot promise former MPs peerages to make way for allies of Sir Keir Starmer, after reports in this morning’s Sunday Times.
The shadow home secretary told Sky News: “It’s not the way the system works, there’s a whole process with an independent committee that will vet nominations. No party can do that or make that sort of commitment.”
In reality, prime ministers have exactly that power. There is an independent House of Lords Appointments Commission which vets nominations for all life peers, including those recommended by the UK political parties.
But the commission only looks at whether the individual is “in good standing” and whether they would “bring the House of Lords into disrepute”.
Crucially, the commission does not have a veto on candidates. It merely advises the prime minister, who decides whether to recommend a life peer to the King, which is in reality a rubber stamp.
While prime minister, Boris Johnson did exactly that and overruled the commission’s recommendation to ensure that the businessman Peter Cruddas received a peerage.
1 hour ago
11.02am
Street’s warning over Farage
Andy Street has said that Nigel Farage bidding for the Conservative leadership after the election would not be “a moderate inclusive Conservative Party with a broad appeal”.
The former West Midlands mayor told the BBC it was “appropriate” to think about the leadership of the party “well before we know the outcome of the general election”.
Street said he had decided against standing as an MP because he was “naturally an executive”.
Tories must target centre ground, says former mayor
The Conservatives must start thinking now about how they can be led from the centre ground, the former West Midlands mayor has said.
Andy Street, who lost the mayoral election in May by about 1,500 votes, told the BBC there was “a lesson in what happened”.
He said: “We got so close … because of the brand of conservatism that we followed. It was about an agenda which was about deliberately getting stuff done. It wasn’t particularly philosophical, it was about responding to all communities, holding a broad church together with the leadership absolutely in the middle ground.
“Whether we win or lose the general election, the point is simple. You have to have that broad church, you have to be centred in the middle ground.”
2 hours ago
10.13am
Abbott may not stand, suggests ally
Watch: the Diane Abbott row explained
Diane Abbott may choose not to stand as a candidate, a key ally of the former home secretary has suggested.
Sir Keir Starmer said on Friday that Abbott was “free to go forward as a Labour candidate”.
Baroness Chakrabati, the former attorney general, told the BBC: “I hope she will take some time to consider what she wants to do, and that’s what I’ve suggested to her as a friend.”
Chakrabati said the question of whether Abbott should stand should not be “decided by fans or detractors of my dear friend”.
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, said she “would obviously support her if she decides to stand … but it has to be Diane’s decision. This is for Diane to decide and I completely support that.”
2 hours ago
10.00am
Labour ‘will act fast’ on access to children’s data for bereaved parents
Labour would make sure bereaved parents have access to their children’s data, the shadow home secretary has said.
The party would commit to the move “as soon as legislation would allow”, Yvette Cooper told the BBC.
The Online Safety Act allowed coroners the power to force technology companies to unlock children’s social media accounts. But the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill had initially narrowed the powers so they could be used only when coroners suspected suicide.
The bill was one of several to be ditched by the government due to the early election being called.
2 hours ago
9.54am
No deadline for Labour migration pledge
Labour will not set a target or deadline for its promised decrease in net migration, the shadow home secretary has said.
“We’re not setting a target,” Yvette Cooper told the BBC. “The reason for that is because I thought partly because, to be honest, every time the Conservatives have done this, frankly, they have just ended up being totally all over the place and ripping it up.
“And also because from one year to another, there are variations. So for example, the pandemic means that net migration figures of course fell. But the Homes for Ukraine visa rightly meant that the figures increased because of the war in Ukraine.”
Asked to set a deadline, Cooper said: “We would expect to see the numbers coming down swiftly.”
2 hours ago
9.46am
Private schools ‘should pay VAT just like other organisations’
Private schools should pay VAT as “other organisations do”, the shadow home secretary has said. Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “That’s what organisations do right across the economy, right across society.”
Labour has pledged to introduce the 20 per cent tax on private school fees and use the money to hire 6,500 more teachers in state schools.
Cooper added: “We know that many of these organisations have put their own fees up quite substantially over the last few years. That’s for them to deal with.”
A Labour peer has described the row over Diane Abbott’s selection as a candidate as “pretty appalling”.
Baroness Chakrabati, the former shadow attorney general, told Sky News it had been a “sometimes sordid week of unauthorised anonymous briefings by overgrown schoolboys in suits with their feet on their table and maybe too much West Wing”.
She added: “I hope they remember it is supposed to be country first not faction first … It’s been pretty appalling trying to bully someone of her stature … It’s not good for Keir Starmer’s leadership, it’s not good for the Labour Party, and it hasn’t been very nice for Diane or for common decency really.”
3 hours ago
9.16am
‘Clear standards for Labour candidates’
Labour is still a broad church despite accepting the backing of Tory MPs while suspending former Labour MPs, the shadow home secretary has said.
Natalie Elphicke and Mark Logan, both former Conservatives, have recently backed Labour, while Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a former Labour MP, and Faiza Shaheen, a former candidate, were suspended.
Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “We want people to change their minds, that’s what politics is about. We want to persuade people to change their minds, and we want people to vote Labour.”
Asked about Russell-Moyle and Shaheen, she said: “Yes, it’s true. We have clear standards and complaints processes around having standards for candidates and yes, it’s true that Keir Starmer has changed the Labour Party after the 2019 election and right that he should do so.”
3 hours ago
9.09am
No promise of peerages, says Cooper
The shadow home secretary has insisted Labour cannot “make that sort of commitment” when asked if MPs had been promised peerages to persuade them to retire.
The Sunday Times reported that key figures, including Diane Abbott, had been offered places in the House of Lords so they could be replaced with allies of Sir Keir Starmer.
Yvette Cooper told Sky News: “It’s not the way the system works, there’s a whole process with an independent committee that will vet nominations. No party can do that or make that sort of commitment.”
Cooper said Starmer would change the way honours are awarded and would not have a resignation honours list.
3 hours ago
9.02am
Labour will betray pensioners, warns Hunt
Jeremy Hunt said the Tories would always have pensioners’ backs
HOLLIE ADAMS/REUTERS
In a direct appeal to older voters, Jeremy Hunt has pledged that the Conservatives will not raise or introduce any taxes on pensions.
The chancellor said the Tory party would “always have their backs” and highlighted the introduction of the triple lock and a £3,700 increase in the state pensions.
He also warned that Labour would raid pension funds by the “back door”, pointing to Gordon Brown’s decision to scrap tax relief on dividends in 1997.
Hunt told The Sunday Telegraph: “Labour betrayed pensioners before … We will never allow it to happen again. We want to send a message to pensioners that there is only one party you can trust.”
Yvette Cooper ‘assumes’ Abbott will be Labour candidate
The shadow home secretary has said she is “very glad” that the row over Diane Abbott’s candidacy has been “resolved”.
Yvette Cooper told Sky News she was “very glad it has been resolved for Diane”, adding “everybody would have liked to see the process speeded up”.
Cooper said she assumed Abbott would be a Labour candidate in the election.
The Sunday Times reported that left-wing MPs, including Abbott, have been offered peerages to stand down.
3 hours ago
8.47am
Davey: We’ll put carers front and centre
The Liberal Democrats are promising to reverse £1 billion in Conservative cuts to local government funding in an effort to improve public health services.
After spending the weekend with his family, Sir Ed Davey, the party’s leader, said he wanted to put care workers “front and centre” of his campaign over the coming week. His son John has severe physical and learning disabilities.
“Carers — paid and unpaid — are the lifeblood of our NHS and our economy,” Davey said. “The work they do is undervalued and underappreciated.”
The Lib Dems say they will pay for their plan to restore the public health grant by cracking down on tax evasion.
3 hours ago
8.44am
SNP to launch campaign
Eleven days after Rishi Sunak announced the general election, the SNP is formally launching its campaign in Glasgow.
John Swinney, who took over as party leader on May 8, is expected to blame the government in Westminster for “austerity, Brexit and a cost of living crisis being imposed on Scotland”.
“There has been very little planning done,” one senior figure told The Sunday Times. “Humza [Yousaf] left the cupboard bare.”
Sir Keir Starmer revealed a manifesto pledge to cut immigration to the UK as he vowed to “control our borders and make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first”.
The Labour leader said in an interview with The Sun on Sunday that he would bring down net migration from last year’s figure of 685,000 but refused to set a target level or a date for achieving it.
Starmer accused the Conservatives of repeatedly promising to cut migration numbers without success. Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton famously pledged to reduce net migration to the “tens of thousands” before he was elected prime minister in 2010.
3 hours ago
8.20am
Tories promise 100 new GP surgeries
Rishi Sunak on a hospital visit in Stockton-on-Tees last year. He has announced plans for more GP surgeries and an expansion of the Pharmacy First scheme
PHIL NOBLE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The Conservatives have promised to build 100 new GP surgeries and 50 community diagnostic centres if they are re-elected.
Rishi Sunak also wants to expand the Pharmacy First scheme so patients can be treated at their pharmacy without seeing a GP first.
He said the plans would make it “quicker, easier and more convenient for patients to receive the care they need and help to relieve pressure on hospital services”.
Starmer promises cut to net migration under Labour
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to cut levels of net migration to the UK if his party wins the general election.
The Labour leader said he would introduce new laws to train British workers to plug skills gaps in the job market and strengthen anti-exploitation laws.
He did not put a timeframe or a target figure on his promise, but told the Sun on Sunday: "Mark my words, a future Labour government will bring down net migration."
The Conservatives, who recently introduced measures designed to cut the number of arrivals to the UK, said "no one believes Keir Starmer is serious about tackling immigration".
Explaining why Labour did not want to set a target, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said previous ones set by the Conservatives had been missed and “discredited the whole system”.
Speaking on BBC One's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she also argued that other factors would produce variations “from one year to another," citing the pandemic and the UK's decision to accept Ukrainian refugees as recent examples.
But she said Labour wanted to see "significant changes in place” across the economy to reduce reliance on overseas workers.
Announcing the new policy to the Sun, Sir Keir declared: "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."
The aim would be for the country to be "less reliant on migration by training more UK workers", Sir Keir added.
He said "the Tories have repeatedly broken their promises to bring down net migration".
Last year, net migration - the number of people coming to the UK, minus the number leaving - was 685,000, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show.
Earlier this year, the government introduced new laws designed to cut immigration numbers.
They included increasing the minimum salary requirement for some skilled work visas by nearly 50%, as well as increasing the salary requirement for skilled workers to bring family dependents with them.
When that policy was announced, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said while net migration "should come down", the Conservatives were "failing to introduce more substantial reforms that link immigration to training and fair pay requirements in the UK, meaning many sectors will continue to see rising numbers of work visas because of skills shortages".
Sir Keir has previously described net migration levels as "shockingly high" and this fresh commitment is likely to be seen as an attempt to appeal to traditional Conservative voters.
Under the proposed policy, bosses who breach employment law, such as by paying below minimum wage, could be banned from hiring foreigners.
A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said the new Labour policy announced on Sunday was a "U-turn" on Sir Keir's principles.
"This is the man who called all immigration laws racist and voted against tougher border controls 139 times," the spokesperson said.
Alison Thewliss, from the SNP, said: “Instead of coming forward with policies based on Scotland’s needs, Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are both amping up the far-right belief that migrants are to blame for all of our problems - but it’s not migrants, it’s Westminster."
"From our care sector and our NHS to our economy, the cruel immigration policies that both the Tories and Keir Starmer’s Labour have now adopted directly harm Scotland," she said.
A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats said: "It’s clear the Conservatives have failed on immigration and broken every promise they’ve ever made."
