Angela Rayner attacks Mahmood’s migrant crackdown - telegraph.co.uk

Angela Rayner has attacked Shabana Mahmood’s migrant crackdown on the eve of the Labour Party conference.

Ms Rayner said the Home Secretary’s plans to make it harder for migrant workers to claim settlement were unfair because they would “change the goalposts”.

She said the plans would hit foreign care workers who had “moved their lives here to look after our loved ones”. They face being forced to wait up to 15 years before they can claim indefinite leave to remain (ILR), as opposed to the current five years.

Ms Rayner, the Communities Secretary, made clear that she had not changed her critical views of the proposals since she was brought back into government by Andy Burnham. On the back benches, she described the retrospective nature of the proposals as “un-British”.

The Prime Minister has indicated that he is rethinking the plans, which he also criticised before taking up the post, and has hinted that an exemption for foreign care workers is on the table.

Ms Rayner’s comments threaten to ignite a public row over the issue at the Labour conference, which opens on Sunday in Liverpool. Some 100 Labour MPs have signed a letter criticising the proposals and calling for exemptions for foreign care workers.

The Telegraph reported that Britain’s biggest trade union, Unison, is planning a demonstration outside the conference on Monday to support moves to exempt care workers from the ILR changes.

The reforms are part of Ms Mahmood’s overhaul of the immigration system aimed at making the UK a less attractive destination for migrants and avoid an economic time bomb.

The recruitment of foreign care workers surged in 2022 when the Tory government opened up a health and social care visa route.

The relaxation of the UK’s visa rules by Boris Johnson – the so-called Boriswave – saw 4.2 million migrants come to the UK between 2021 and 2024, peaking at 944,000 in the year to March 2023.