Angela Rayner has renewed her demands for a U-turn on Labour’s settlement rights crackdown despite a fresh backlash at loose border rules.
The former deputy PM insisted the proposals to make most people wait 10 years instead of five for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ in the UK should not be applied retrospectively.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been struggling to fend off pressure from MPs to stop the overhaul applying to those who are already in the country.
However, that would mean it does not cover the huge numbers who arrived in recent years.
The Government has warned that 1.6million people would get an automatic right to settle in the UK by 2030 unless they are included in the rule change.
Concerns over border arrangements have been heightened this week after the Belfast knife attack.
It has emerged the Sudanese suspect was granted asylum in the UK under a controversial ‘fast-track’ scheme, after arriving by bus from Dublin.
Angela Rayner insisted the proposals to make most people wait 10 years instead of five for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ in the UK must not be applied retrospectively
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been struggling to fend off pressure from MPs to stop the overhaul applying to those who are already in the country
Many of those given asylum end up getting indefinite leave to remain.
Immigration is a key battleground with Reform, who have been vowing to slash legal arrivals further and stop Channel boats.
Ms Mahmood’s plans have been seen as crucial for the Government to show it is tackling the issues.
But Ms Rayner – who is widely thought to have forged an alliance with Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham – told a rally organised by Unison yesterday that migrants had come ‘to this country with a promise and an expectation’.
The event was for care workers, whose wait to qualify for settlement could be extended to 15 years if they arrived on post-Brexit health and social care visas.
‘We should fulfil that promise. We shouldn’t be changing the rules halfway, we should accept the promises we made and we should stick to them,’ she told the rally according to the Daily Mirror.
Ms Rayner also called for sector-wide social care visas to stop workers being exploited by employers.
Mr Burnham has hinted at similar doubts about the retrospective element to the overhaul.
The Government is still reviewing responses to its consultation on how the change in the ILR qualification period will be applied to people already in the UK.
