𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been forced into a massive climbdown after Labour Left-wingers declared war on her immigration reforms – and Andy Burnham refused to back her. The Home Secretary has watered down plans to require migrants to wait up to 15 years before they receive “indefinite leave to remain” or “settled status”.

She did it because of a rebellion by Labour MPs opposed to her plans, which included Housing Secretary Angela Rayner and Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh. Phrases like “indefinite leave to remain” may not mean a lot to people who aren’t experts on the immigration system. But it basically means that you can get pretty much the same rights as British citizens.

And under the current system, migrants who come to the UK to work can get indefinite leave after they’ve lived here for just five years. Ms Mahmood herself explained why this was a problem in a speech in March. She said: “At that point, they will gain access to welfare, free healthcare and social housing.”

Ms Mahmood added: “We must be honest about the scale of this. We have never, in the history of this country, had so much low-skilled migration in so little time.

“We estimate, based on findings from the Migration Advisory Committee, that the lifetime cost to the taxpayer will be £10billion.

“That figure would be paid for by working people in this country. It would mean ever longer waits for the 1.3million people in this country on the social housing list and yet more pressure placed upon our National Health Service.”

The Home Secretary explained the situation clearly. But it led to an outcry from Labour backbenchers, who said they had been contacted by angry constituents.

Many Labour MPs said it was wrong to “move the goalposts” or apply the change “retrospectively”. What they meant is that people who have been in the UK for, let’s say, three years were expecting to get indefinite leave to remain in two years’ time.

But if the Home Secretary extended the total wait period from five years to 10, or 15, then someone with three years in the UK would now need to wait seven or 12 years. Of course, Ms Mahmood knows this. That’s exactly why she wanted to make the change.

And she could have done it too, if the Prime Minister had backed her. Labour still has a massive majority in the Commons, and the Government can ultimately get its way. But Mr Burnham wasn’t interested.

The Home Secretary has now announced that foreign care workers who earn at least £25,000 a year will only have to wait five years for permanent settlement – watering down her plans to make them wait 15 years.

That may not seem like a big deal, but in fact, 600,000 immigrants have been handed visas to work in the UK as carers in recent years. And Ms Mahmood knows full well that this is a real problem – as she said in March.

She said at the time: “For some of those who arrived on the health and social care visa as we now know, fraud was rife – with phoney care providers created to draw people to this country on a false promise of work.

“Absent action, over the next five years some 350,000 low-skilled workers and their dependents will qualify for settlement. At that point, they will gain access to welfare, free healthcare and social housing.

“We must be honest about the scale of this.”

Note the phrase “absent action”. She wanted to take action. Her Labour colleagues have stopped her from doing it.