Shabana Mahmood is preparing to offer Labour rebels concessions on her immigration reforms as soon as next week, The i Paper has learned.
The Home Secretary has invited key union leaders to meet in the coming days after hinting she would water down her plan to make it harder for immigrants to settle in the UK.
Union sources expect Mahmood to use the talks to outline her response to a major Labour revolt over the plans, and suggested the Cabinet minister will want to move quickly rather than appear to have been “dragged into it kicking and screaming”.
Mahmood signalled the shift after Angela Rayner and union leaders escalated the rebellion against her plan to double the default qualifying time for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to 10 years and apply it to people already working in the UK.
Leading Labour MP rebels said they have not yet had a similar invitation to talks with the Cabinet minister, nor an indication of what a potential compromise might look like.
Mahmood is under pressure from the right to deal with the so-called “Boriswave” of record immigration which could mean hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived from 2021 will soon get the right to settle in the UK.
The options under consideration
Among the options being considered is exempting care workers already in the UK from the changes, under which some could face waits of up to 15 years for indefinite leave to remain.
Andrea Egan, the boss of the Unison union, which represents social care workers, told The i Paper this week Mahmood’s proposals were “dehumanising” migrants and fuelling the far-right.
Another possible solution could be exempting all migrants who are already in the UK from the tougher rules, but restricting their access to benefits for a period of time after they secure settlement.
Unions and some Labour rebels have warned that simply exempting care workers will not go far enough and that all migrants already in the UK should be exempted.
The Home Secretary has already hinted at the prospect of “special treatment” for certain groups of people. Spouses and older people could also be among those shielded from her plans.
The political risks
Mahmood is under pressure from the right to deal with the so-called “Boriswave” of record immigration which could mean hundreds of thousands of migrants who arrived from 2021 will soon get the right to settle in the UK.
Her tough reforms have been widely viewed as an attempt by Labour to neutralise the political threat from Reform UK by demonstrating a harder line on migration.
One senior union source said the Government is privately showing “a growing recognition there will have to be transitional arrangements” for workers already in the country.
“You don’t want to leave it too long and look like you’ve been dragged into it kicking and screaming,” a the insider said.
“You don’t want it to look like you’ve done it because the Labour Party demanded or, or because Unison demanded it.”
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham told The i Paper the proposal to make people already in the UK wait longer for indefinite leave to remain is “completely wrong” and is “going to have to be reviewed: “I don’t think people will think that’s acceptable, that it’s retrospectively applied..
“We’re talking about people that were asked to come to Britain to work in our hospitals, to work in our care homes.”
She went on: “They’ve set up home, possibly had children. Their children are going to school. And then we say halfway through, well, sorry, actually we didn’t mean that. What we now want you to do is not to remain in Britain. Most people would find that actually completely and utterly wrong.”
The Home Office declined to comment.
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