UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been forced to soften her most hardline immigration plans, reducing the wait for care workers to apply for indefinite leave to remain from 15 years to five, following a cabinet backlash and pressure from health unions. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
However, most of the rigorous new rules drawn up by Mahmood’s office last year remain in place, including plans to force those who arrived in the UK by irregular means, such as small boats, to wait up to 30 years before being able to apply for settlement.
The changes drew cries of betrayal from the Conservatives and the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, who said it was “the beginning of the capitulation”. But Mahmood told the Commons she would still enact sweeping changes that will mean many migrant workers will wait double the time they had expected for settlement.
She said settlement was “one of most valuable rights this country can offer. Until now it has been given almost automatically. From today it must be earned. Those who contribute will settle fastest. Those who don’t play by the rules will be refused or wait much longer.”
In particular, the wait for those earning under £50,000 will double to 10 years. This was criticised by some Labour MPs who said vital workers such as research scientists and chefs would be caught by the changes.
The Law Society said the changing rules could threaten the rule of law, saying it “retrospectively undermines the legal certainty that individuals, families and employers rely on”.
Some MPs suggested they would continue to press the home secretary to rethink the retrospective nature of the changes – though the new policies do not require a vote in parliament, so MPs have limited means to block them.
Abtisam Mohamed, the Labour MP for Sheffield Central, said: “Retrospectively uprooting someone’s plans, sometimes made at the most vulnerable time in their lives, is unfair. I’ll be pressing for those already here to be protected.”
The former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott also criticised the retrospective changes. “You can come in legally, you can work legally and then have your residency rights turned upside down,” she said, warning of another potential Windrush scandal.
The Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy said there was a “partial recognition” of the contribution migrants made but there were thousands of people “facing 10 years of limbo with many businesses unclear if talent will stay or not as a result”.
She said: “The economic consequences of those people walking away from the UK will far outweigh any savings in entitlement to benefits, given many of them don’t claim anyway, so the home secretary still has work to do to make these reforms work for our national interest.”
Refugees will also face a longer wait of 10 years, with an additional 10-year penalty for those who do not enter legally – and those who do not find employment will face a wait of up to 30 years.
Andy Burnham, who promised voters in his Makerfield byelection that he would support Mahmood’s migration agenda, endorsed the plans and said the home secretary was “gripping this problem” by introducing the earned element.
“People want to see an immigration system based on control, contribution, and which rewards those who play by the rules,” the prime minister said. “It is only fair that those who are making the most valuable contribution to our communities are given the opportunity to settle earlier. Those in other roles should expect to wait longer while people who abuse the system or arrive illegally will be refused or will also have to wait longer.”
But migrant rights organisations accused the government of “moving the goalposts” for those who had played by the rules. “People who have built their lives around the government’s requirements deserve better than decisions that turn their own and their families’ lives upside down,” said Amnesty International.
The key climbdown from the home secretary was an exemption for care workers – something which the housing secretary, Angela Rayner, had explicitly criticised. The energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, also repeatedly refused to say she backed proposals to prolong the qualifying period for settlement.
Under pressure from health unions to make an exception for care workers, the home secretary has moved to allow an estimated 280,000 care workers and their dependents to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years.
In the revised set of proposals, care workers earning more than £25,000 will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years, a third of the time that was announced last year.
Home Office officials calculate that about 500,000 migrants will have to wait longer than the current five years. But critics of Mahmood’s softening point out that her decision will cost the country up to £10bn, according to shadow home secretary Chris Philp.