Plans to tighten Britain’s immigration rules are expected to be significantly diluted on Monday following a damaging internal struggle within the Labour Party.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s proposals would have required low-skilled overseas workers to wait substantially longer before gaining settled status. However, the plans have been redrafted after fierce opposition from Labour’s Left wing.
Ms Mahmood is now widely expected to concede ground, despite warning only months ago that failing to introduce her original proposals in full could cost taxpayers £10billion.
She previously argued that watering down the measures would be “an affront to the idea of fairness within our society”.
The Home Secretary also acknowledged that a weaker policy would place “further strain on public services like housing and healthcare”.
The extent of the changes is expected to become clear when Ms Mahmood makes a statement in the Commons on Monday afternoon.
Her proposals have sparked a major dispute within the Labour Party.
Angela Rayner denounced the plans as “un-British” in March, when she was serving as a backbencher. She has since returned to the Cabinet under Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh, regarded as an emerging Labour Government star, also criticised the proposals last month.
The full extent of Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s U-turn is expected to be set out in a Commons statement later
At present, most migrants can apply for settlement after five years of lawful residence in the UK. Settled status allows access to the full range of welfare benefits and can eventually lead to British citizenship.
Under Ms Mahmood’s original blueprint, the standard qualifying period for settled status—officially known as indefinite leave to remain, or ILR—would have doubled to ten years.
Low-skilled overseas workers and migrants who received welfare support during that period would have faced even longer waits.
Anyone who had claimed benefits for up to 12 months would have seen the qualifying period rise to 15 years.
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Those who had received benefits for more than a year would have been required to wait 20 years.
People who entered Britain illegally, including those arriving by small boat, would have faced waits of up to 25 years before becoming eligible for settled status.
By contrast, foreign workers in senior public-sector positions, including doctors and nurses, would have retained a five-year route. The same would have applied to others judged to have made a significant contribution through higher tax payments.
Ms Mahmood originally presented the measures as a way to manage the impact of between 1.3million and 2.2million foreign nationals expected to become eligible for ILR between this year and 2030.
That figure includes 463,000 people who arrived through the foreign care worker visa route, which was widely exploited through fraudulent applications.
In an interview last weekend, Housing Secretary Ms Rayner suggested that the revised approach would be “fair” to overseas workers already living in Britain, including those employed in care roles.
‘I’ve every confidence that Shabana will come up with a fair system that is fair to the taxpayers of today, that recognises the contribution that people make who come to this country, who work in our public services,’ she said.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘It’s clear Shabana Mahmood has been forced to surrender to Angela Rayner and the open-borders Labour Left.
‘She will now allow hundreds of thousands of low-wage and no-wage migrants to stay in the UK forever and claim benefits.
‘By Mahmood’s own admission in a speech this March, letting low wage care workers alone stay forever will cost taxpayers £10billion and be an “affront”.
‘Now she looks like she’s about to do exactly that.
‘After talking tough all year, Mahmood now appears to have capitulated control of immigration policy to Angela Rayner – and Mahmood’s position is looking increasingly untenable.’
He added: ‘The Conservative plan is a ten-year route to ILR, only for high wage workers.
‘No more low-wage workers should be allowed in, and those already here should be required to leave when their temporary work visa expires.’