Immigration Settlement Clash
Angela Rayner criticizes proposed retroactive immigration settlement rule changes for legal migrants.
Anonymous
Angela Rayner has criticized Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s proposed immigration reforms, saying it would be unfair to change settlement rules retrospectively for migrants who came to the UK legally. The proposals would lengthen the standard qualifying period for permanent residency and could require some social care workers to wait as long as 15 years, with changes applying to people who arrived from 2021, despite many having been offered a five-year route. Rayner argues the changes would disrupt the lives of workers recruited to care for vulnerable people; more than 100 Labour MPs and trade unions have opposed the plans and called for care workers to be exempted. Other Labour figures, including Lisa Nandy, have defended balancing migrants’ contributions with public confidence in the immigration system. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has reportedly signaled possible reconsideration, including an exemption for care workers, as the proposals risk fuelling a dispute within Labour ahead of its party conference.
Key Points
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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the government would decide on the immigration overhaul by the end of the year.
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The reforms are intended to make the UK a less attractive destination for migrants; the article describes them as part of an effort to avoid an “economic time bomb.”
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The Telegraph reported that Unison planned a demonstration outside Labour’s conference on Monday to back exempting care workers from the settlement changes.
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The article says recruitment of foreign care workers surged in 2022 after the Conservative government opened a health and social care visa route, and reports that 4.2 million migrants came to the UK between 2021 and 2024.
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