A FORMER Worcester Labour parliamentary candidate has urged the party to do more work on immigration - saying the issue comes up "time and time again" on the doorsteps.

Councillor Joy Squires, who tried to become the city's MP last year, has reacted to Jeremy Corbyn's conference speech by urging the party to unite to take on the Tories.

She also backed Mr Corbyn's views on increasing wages and a £160 million 'arts pupil premium', but said more investigation is needed to quell public concern over immigration.

The Labour leader closed his party's Liverpool conference with a speech outlining a raft of Opposition priorities, including a new National Living Wage aimed at reducing in-work poverty.

He promised a £160 million "arts pupil premium" to offer children access to music, drama and dance and said borrowing restrictions should be lifted to allow councils to build more homes.

He also suggested Labour would resist a cap on immigration, instead blaming companies for keeping wages down, saying the Conservative Government has not gone far enough with the £7.20 an hour National Living Wage.

Councillor Squires, who is deputy leader of Worcester City Council, said: "We have to pull together as a Labour Party and unite to take on the Tories.

"There were some interesting proposals in Jeremy Corbyn's speech, I welcome the introduction of a real National Living Wage as in-work poverty is a scourge of our times.

"As a school governor I'm also really pleased about his proposal to extend the pupil premium for arts and music so it can help all children."

She also told the Worcester News Mr Corbyn was right to admit Labour had an "electoral mountain" to climb, and said issues like immigration are still frequently cited on the doorsteps.

"It's clear we need immigration, but we need the right sort and we need a much clearer idea of the different sectors of the economy and what the needs are," she said.

"We need to go into much more detail rather than saying 'yes, we will let everybody in' or 'no, we can't let anyone into the county'."

Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham has already criticised Mr Corbyn's stance on immigration by insisting millions of Labour supporters “voted for change" in backing Brexit.

Mr Burnham said such voters "have no problem with people coming here to work" but added: "They do have a problem with people taking them for granted with unlimited, unfunded, unskilled migration which damages their own living standards."