Mahmood defends migration reform package against accusations of U-turn

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has insisted her migration reforms will still tackle the issue of high net migration, after she watered down plans to make foreign care workers wait up to 15 years for settlement following criticism from senior Labour figures.

Under her initial proposals, lower-qualified workers who arrived on health and social care visas during the “Boriswave” from 2022 could have been made to wait 15 years for permanent settlement.

But under the revised plans, foreign care workers who meet their visa conditions and earn at least £25,000 a year will now only have to wait five years.

Foreign care workers who do not qualify for the five-year settlement will be able to apply for a new five-year visa, and then seek settlement once that has been completed.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner publicly attacked the prospect of backdating the plans earlier this year (Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)

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Tensions in the Cabinet over the policy surfaced when Housing Secretary Angela Rayner earlier this year publicly attacked the prospect of backdating the plans.

Then Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh repeatedly refused to say she backed proposals to prolong the qualifying period for settlement.

The Home Secretary’s plans prompted accusations of a “U-turn” from her Conservative shadow Chris Philp, who also claimed it would cost the taxpayer £10 billion.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage meanwhile branded the decision “the beginning of the capitulation”.

After announcing her plans in the Commons, Ms Mahmood was asked by the BBC if she had turned her back on plans to reduce high net migration of the so-called “Boriswave”.

She told the broadcaster: “I don’t accept that because, again, when you look at the totality of the changes, around 500,000 people, half a million people who are due to settle at five years will not now settle at five years.

“They will have to wait longer before they can achieve settlement in this country. And I’ve come to a fair resolution for care workers.”

Under the Home Secretary’s plans, the right to settled status will no longer be automatic and must be earned.

The highest earners (earning at least £125,141 a year) will be able to settle within three years, while those earning more than £50,271 and some public service workers, including doctors, nurses and teachers, will be able to settle after five years.

Others will settle at a new default of 10 years, Ms Mahmood added.

Anyone seeking settled status will need a clean criminal record, English spoken to the equivalent of A-level English as a foreign language, must not owe debt to the taxpayer, and must have a record of sustained national insurance contributions, the Home Secretary has said.

Ms Mahmood confirmed she would introduce the plan for refugees who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel by small boat to wait 20 years for settlement, rising to 30 years if they do not enter work or study.