𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

More medics must be trained in Britain as Labour’s migrant crackdown could trigger an exodus of tens of thousands of foreign doctors and nurses, Keir Starmer has been told. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is facing a growing revolt from health groups, trade unions and left-wing MPs over her plans to change settlement rules. Overseas nationals face a 10-year wait to apply for indefinite leave to remain, double the current five years. But Ms Mahmood is being warned that the changes could lead to as many as 45,000 nurses leaving the UK, prompting calls for a dramatic increase in training for domestic staff.

Patient care could be plunged into crisis, with appointments cancelled, health groups warned.

Many in Whitehall are suggesting the scale of the revolt against Ms Mahmood’s plans could lead to them being watered down or axed, with others describing it as a test of her “backbone” after years of “mass migration” that will cost taxpayers “hundreds of billions”.

Reform’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, told the Daily Express: “The Boris Wave is a looming fiscal disaster that will cost British taxpayers hundreds of billions in the coming years.

“Almost 4 million migrants were allowed in against the will of the British people, and the vast majority came in on non-work visas.

“Half do not work and never will.

“Labour were never serious about doing anything about this, and Starmer is too weak to overrule his MPs who want open borders.

“The same political class who have capped medical school places for homegrown doctors at less than 10,000 a year, have insisted Britain must import millions of migrants who do not work. Astonishingly that cap is still in place.

“Reform will lift the cap on homegrown medical students and put British students and medics first.”

Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “We will find out if Shabana Mahmood has any backbone or not.

“She needs to face down those on the left of her party.

“The days of relying on mass, low-skilled migration must end and foreign arrivals who do not make a significant contribution to the UK must leave when their work visas come to an end.”

The Royal College of Nursing urged ministers to not only scrap their existing proposals – but introduce more lax rules.

They said: “In the longer-term, the UK government must implement policy interventions to make ILR more accessible for nursing staff this should include:

– Providing immediate indefinite leave to remain (ILR) for nursing staff. Fast-track routes to settlement, such as those available in New Zealand and Canada, are needed to maximise the retention of internationally educated nursing staff within UK health and care systems.

– Reducing ILR application fees. To facilitate access to ILR, the ILR application fee should be set at the processing cost. This would reduce the cost of an ILR application fivefold, from £3,029 to £523

“In August 2025, we surveyed more than 5,000 internationally educated nursing staff on the proposed changes to indefinite leave to remain.

“Our survey findings are clear that this policy change could trigger an exodus of internationally educated nursing staff, the RCN estimates that as many as 46,000 nursing staff could leave the UK.

“In the context of a global nursing workforce shortage, there is a responsibility for all countries, including the UK, to increase and sustain a domestic supply of registered nurses and reduce reliance on international recruitment.”

Under Labour’s plans, migrants will be told to wait at least 10 years before they can apply for settlement rights.

Foreign nationals who arrived in the so-called ‘Boris Wave’ face a 10 to 15-year wait to apply for indefinite leave to remain amid fears over an influx of low-skilled workers, particularly on the abused Health and Social Care Visa in the early part of this decade.

And migrants could be barred from claiming benefits unless they become British citizens.

Ms Mahmood said those relying on handouts must wait 20 to 30 years to receive indefinite leave to remain.

Arrivals applying for indefinite leave to remain after 10 years must have no criminal record, speak English to A-level standards and have no debt, under Labour’s new proposals.

Net migration surged to a record high of 944,000 in the year ending March 2023. It hit 764,000 in 2022, before dropping to 649,000 in June 2024.

A staggering one in 30 people have arrived since 2021, with some 1.6 million people expected to receive indefinite leave to remain over the next five years, which would allow them to claim benefits and get a social home.

Net migration fell to 204,000 in the year to September 2025 as the number of people leaving the country hit the highest level for a century.

The Royal College of GPs, while admitting the NHS is “heavily dependent on overseas recruitment”, said health chiefs must be able to continue employing overseas workers.

It told MPs: “As of 31 October, at least 456 GPs have applied to the GMC this year for Confirmation of UK Training (CUKT), which is required by some other regulators for applications to work in their country.

“The RCGP has long argued that international GPs who successfully complete GP specialty training and gain entry to the GP Register should automatically qualify to apply for ILR.

“It is also integral to acknowledge that the NHS workforce is currently heavily dependent on overseas recruitment to fill workforce gaps, without which the service would struggle to operate.

“Without IMGs, many practices would be unable to maintain safe levels of patient access or meet contractual service requirements.”

Care England warned Labour’s current plans have created a new loophole which will allow workers to transfer to the NHS to circumvent the crackdown.

It told the Home Affairs Select Committee: “A provider raised that they have received their first resignation from a nurse who is leaving to join the NHS on the basis of the rule that an “applicant has been employed in a specified public service occupation for five years, minus five years.”

“If this rule applies to NHS employment but not to social care roles, it would mean that nurses and any other roles that exist in both health and social care could secure Leave to Remain after five years by leaving their current employer and moving into the NHS.

“This was the reason provided for the resignation they have already received, and they anticipate a number of similar resignations once this becomes widely known.”

Home Secretary Ms Mahmood, speaking to the same group of MPs, stressed the proposals are necessary due to an “unprecedented” number of arrivals between 2021 and 2025.

She compared the influx to “free movement”.