Andy Burnham is considering watering down plans to implement the Home Secretary’s hardline immigration reforms retrospectively, according to allies.
Under Shabana Mahmood’s plans, the time it takes for most migrant workers to qualify for permanent residence will be doubled from five year to ten years and will be applied retrospectively.
That means those who are already here could have to wait years longer for permanent residency than they had expected when they arrived in the UK.
Mahmood insists the changes to the law, which are expected to be introduced in the autumn, are necessary because of “historically large numbers” that arrived since 2021, dubbed the “Boriswave” by Reform UK.
Rayner among Labour MPs to oppose policy
However, the proposals have led to a furious backlash among some Labour MPs. Among those opposed to the reforms include Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, who said in March that it was “un-British” to apply the changes retrospectively.
Rayner said there are people who now “fear for their future” due to the prospect of the government “moving the goalposts”.
She said that for those who came to Britain on the understanding that they could stay if they worked in sectors where they were needed, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, changing the rules “pulls the rug” from under them.
“That would be not just bad policy but a breach of trust. The people already in the system, who made a huge investment, now fear for their future; they do not have stability and do not know what will happen,” she said.
Burnham’s allies say he shares her concerns and is looking again at the proposals to impose the changes retrospectively.
“He sees it as a matter of fairness and will not want to impose the changes retrospectively,” said one source who is familiar with the discussions.
A source close to Burnham described the claim as “speculation” and said he is “yet to make a decision.”
Migration will be a key test for Andy Burnham if he becomes Prime Minister. The failure to stem small boats – even thought Mahmood’s reforms concern legal migration – is considered among the reasons Reform are polling so highly.
Although Burnham’s by-election campaign in Makerfield – where immigration was one of the key issues – is understood to have shifted his views on Mahmood’s immigration reforms, he has previously criticised them.
He said last year that doubling the time it takes for migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain would leave people “in a sense of limbo and unable to integrate.”
100 MPs, peers and union leaders have demanded pause to reforms
However, in the days after his by-election victory, he said he backed the “broad thrust” of her reforms but appeared to suggest said there could be some changes to ease the impact on foreign nationals who have been in the UK for several years.
But with many Labour MPs critical of Mahmood’s reforms Burnham will need to look tough on migration while not alienating the party he has just united.
The current government is consulting on the reforms and is reviewing more than 200,000 responses.
Downing Street has previously refused to rule out the measures being watered down in response to the consultation following a backbench revolt to the changes earlier in the year.
In February, more than 100 MPs, peers and union leaders have demanded she pause her reforms amid fears they would hit key sectors, such as social care, pushing it “closer to breaking point.”Mahmood’s allies have not ruled out the measures being watered down.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We will always welcome those that come to this country and contribute to our national life. But the privilege of living here forever should be earned, not automatic.
“But between 2021 and 2024, this country experienced levels of migration it had historically seen over four decades. We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled migrants getting settlement.
“The Government will double the route to settlement from five to ten years. As announced in November, we are consulting to apply this change to those in the UK today but have not received settled status. We are currently reviewing the 200,000 responses and will outline our response in due course.”
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