With no clear vision for the country, the party is borrowing tactics that have palpably failed elsewhere – and made the hard right stronger

A Labour government with no coherent strategy, with calamitous polling figures, suddenly has a plan. Finally, a disillusioned electorate cry: after all, two-thirds of UK voters believe Labour feels like “more of the same” compared with the previous disastrous Tory government, including nearly half of Labour voters. Perhaps the plan includes radical proposals to deal with Britain’s unprecedented cost of living crisis – not least given that the Joseph Rowntree Foundation projects real disposable incomes will fall under Labour rule? Perhaps there’s a recognition that Britain’s crumbling public realm can never be fixed without meaningful tax hikes on the thriving well-to-do?

Alas, no: the plan is “kick migrants more, just harder”. Labour has decided to lift the policies and approach of Nigel Farage and Donald Trump. It will plough up to £392m into deporting undocumented migrants, enough money to train more than 10,000 new nurses. The Home Office is offering migrant-bashing porn, by publishing footage of migrants being deported, and has issued guidance all but forbidding refugees who have taken a “dangerous route” from ever getting British citizenship, in violation of the UN refugee convention. Rhetoric is being toughened up.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist