Liam Byrne, minister for borders and immigration, will today give the first of five ministerial speeches to Progress, the New Labour pressure group, as part of its new ‘Progressive Challenge’ series.

He will argue that migration can benefit the whole nation and that Labour must not “sacrifice tradition” but “strengthen tradition”, and that in the same way that every “happy family has good ground rules” so should our society have its “code of conduct”.

Mr Byrne will say: “Labour can win an argument about migration on progressive terms only if we both celebrate the benefits of newcomers and bind a contract with newcomers, with the fairness that is a great British tradition.”

The speech will take place in the Grand Committee Room, House of Commons. Westminster, from 6-7pm.

Liam will also be launching an extended pamphlet entitled: ‘The progressive challenge: can migration benefit the whole nation?’ which will be available on the Progress website. For advance copies, please contact Jessica Asato at

If you would like to attend the speech please rsvp to Mark Harrison at or call 020 3008 8180.