Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is facing a growing Labour rebellion over her plans to restrict migrant workers’ settlement rights due to fears it will hit growth and undermine public services.
More than 100 MPs, peers and union leaders have demanded she pause her reforms that will dramatically extend the period before overseas workers are able to settle in the UK.
Thirty Labour backbenchers are among those to have signed a letter addressed to Mahmood, warning her proposals will hit key sectors, such as social care, pushing it “closer to breaking point”.
Union leaders have condemned the reforms, warning they will “move the goalposts” on people already living in the country.
Fears over impact on social care
The Home Secretary has announced proposals to double the amount of time for most migrant workers to secure indefinite leave to remain in the UK from five to 10 years.
Controversially, it will apply retrospectively. For so-called “low skilled” workers, including those in social care, the wait time will be longer, rising to 15 years.
“Adult social care already faces around 110,000 vacancies, and as we await the Casey Review and the Fair Pay Agreement, these proposals risk pushing the sector closer to breaking point,” the letter states.
The public consultation on the reforms ends on Thursday 12 February.
Under current settlement rules, a person has the right to live, work and study in the UK and apply for benefits if they are eligible after five years.
The letter, organised by Labour MP for Poole Neil Duncan-Jordan, has called on the Home Office to pause its plans until a full impact assessment into the policy has been published.
It also demands the Home Office rule out its plans to apply the policy retrospectively, warning that it would affect the thousands of families who have planned their lives around the current rules.
A threat of a fresh rebellion against the Home Office plans could further weaken Sir Keir Starmer’s grip over his party, but supporters of the plans within the party believe offering a tough stance on migration is the only way for Labour to see off the threat of Reform UK.
Reform are currently ahead in the polls, and tipped to win the crunch Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester in two week’s time
But rebels believe that with the removal of Starmer’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, there could now be an opportunity to push the Government to a softer position on the issue of overseas workers.
‘We cannot change rules halfway through’
Appealing to ministers’ sense of “British values,” the letter states: “The British public believe in fair play: that if you work hard, follow the rules and contribute, government should tread lightly on your life.”
It adds, calling for the Government to “uphold its promises – we cannot simply change the rules halfway through an agreed process”.
Duncan-Jordan has led the campaign in Parliament against the controversial proposals, tabling a Parliamentary Motion – and directly challenging Sir Keir Starmer before Christmas over the plans, insisting that they were “not only unfair, but profoundly un-British”.
The MP said: “A Labour Government has lost its way when it is making policy designed to chase Nigel Farage’s tail instead of doing what’s best for the country.
“I worked with migrant care workers for years as a trade unionist — they’re decent, hardworking people who do a challenging job in difficult conditions, often for low pay. We shouldn’t be going after those people. It pushes a struggling sector closer to crisis and it’s just not fair.”
Also among the lead signatories is Andrea Egan, General Secretary of Unison, who has become a major critic of the Starmer administration since her election as leader of the union last year.
She said: “You cannot move the goalposts and retrospectively extend the qualifying period to people who came to the UK under existing rules.”
Settlement a ‘privilege not a right’
Civic leaders have also warned the reforms would lead to “exploitation” of workers, due to workers requiring longer sponsorship contracts with employers.
Work Rights Centre CEO Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol said: “These plans condemn migrant workers to at least a decade of sponsorship, tied to employers for years with no opportunity for upward mobility, and at risk of exploitation.”
Mahmood told MPs at the Home Affairs Committee that settlement in the UK is a “privilege not a right”.
She added: “I think at five years that’s actually quite a short period before people can be permanently settled in the country with all of the benefits that that brings.
“I think it’s right therefore that we extend it. And in the range of proposals that we’ve set out there are some things that could help you bring that qualifying period down.”
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
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