Shabana Mahmood retracts immigration reforms amid Labour revolt
Shabana Mahmood has been forced into a humiliating climbdown on her flagship immigration reforms after a revolt by Labour’s left-wing MPs, reports BritPanorama. The Home Secretary scrapped plans to make lower-skilled migrants wait 15 years for permanent settlement, cutting the proposed wait to ten.
Additionally, for foreign care workers who arrived during the migration wave following the COVID-19 pandemic, the wait for settlement has been reduced from 15 years to just five, provided they meet strict conditions. This adjustment will affect hundreds of thousands who came to the UK to address staffing shortages.
Ms. Mahmood stated in the Commons, “This is a solution that is fair to those who came here legally and play their part, and fair to British citizens already here, who should not be asked to pay a greater burden.” She indicated that the “earned settlement” model represents a new paradigm in the migration system, emphasizing that the right to live in the country must now be earned.
This retreat comes after Ms. Mahmood warned that the initial reforms could cost taxpayers up to £10 billion over the lifetimes of care workers and their dependants expecting to settle by 2030. Official figures suggest around 146,000 care workers and 136,000 dependants could benefit from the new concessions, which also extend to other categories of workers like nursing auxiliaries and teaching assistants who arrived before May 2025.
To qualify, care workers must have entered the pathway prior to May 2025, earn at least £25,000 annually, and comply with their visa conditions. Approximately 100,000 others, including dependants who do not meet these criteria, will be given an additional five-year visa as a chance to resettle. The previous plan that would have required adult dependants to qualify independently has been altered, allowing couples to settle together based on their aggregate time in the UK.
Alongside these concessions, the Home Secretary has abandoned initiatives that would have expedited settlement for volunteering migrants. The broader crackdown remains, however, with substantial wait times expected for about 500,000 migrants, including those in occupations below the income thresholds required for faster settlement.
High earners with an income of at least £125,141 can secure settlement after three years, while those earning £50,271, along with certain public sector workers, may qualify after five. Applicants will also face stricter English language criteria and tougher criminality checks, alongside the stipulation of owing no outstanding debts to the state.
Notably, some small boat arrivals could endure waits of up to 30 years before achieving permanent settlement. The Government posits that these reforms will save taxpayers billions by delaying access to benefits for non-compliant migrants. However, despite the earlier projected £10 billion expenditure, a comprehensive impact assessment detailing the financial implications of these changes has yet to be released.
The new measures are set to be implemented gradually starting late this year and into 2027, coinciding with many migrants from the recent surge approaching the timeline to apply for settled status.
This development reflects ongoing tensions within Labour regarding immigration policy, as the party grapples with balancing public sentiment and the demands of its various factions.
