Andy Burnham has said that Shabana Mahmood is right to want to make migrant workers wait longer until they can claim indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK. Under plans announced last year, migrant workers would normally have to wait 10 years for ILR, instead of five years as they do now, and care workers would normally have to wait 15 years. Some cabinet ministers have made it clear they believe 15 years is too long.
Asked about the split, Burnham broadly defended the home secretary in his Good Morning Britain interview. He said: Why has this problem arisen? It’s arisen because if you look back to the early 2020s, people call it the Boriswave, a huge number of people came in seeking permanent settlement on longer-term visas … And the home secretary is right, in my view, to bring forward changes that are based on the principle that settlement is a right to be earned, not just something that is granted automatically.
Burnham said the final plans would be published soon. But, when asked if he was sticking to the 15-year element of the plan, Burnham just said that he stood by “the principle” of what Mahmood was proposing. He also said the government would take into account the results of its consultation on the plans.
In fact, Burnham himself is one of the ministers who have signalled they are unhappy about care workers being singled out for particularly harsh treatment. And Mahmood has already indicated that some aspects of the plan announced last year will be revised in response to objections. Burnham was not asked for detail on what a compromise might look like.
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