Kemi Badenoch has announced that almost 1.5 million foreign migrants could have their settlement rights reviewed and revoked if the Conservatives win the next election. The policy would apply to foreign nationals currently in line to receive indefinite leave to remain (ILR), who are not British citizens but could otherwise become eligible for UK benefits and services such as the NHS.
Mrs Badenoch declared that being granted settlement rights is no longer a “guaranteed ticket to benefits”. In a major policy announcement, she said a Tory Home Office will cancel settlement rights if migrants are “not a net contributor” to the UK. This would prevent the NHS turning into the “Global Health Service”, reserving benefits and council housing for “British people”.
New Home Office estimates
New Home Office estimates reveal that 1.9 million foreign nationals were due to get indefinite leave to remain by 2030, up from the estimate of 1.6 million from last November. Only 500,000 migrants will face a longer wait, with 300,000 care workers set to be spared from the crackdown which would have made it harder for them to access benefits, get a council house or free NHS treatment.
Tory sources confirmed that all migrants will be “in scope for possible removal of ILR”.
Badenoch's warning to Labour
Mrs Badenoch said: “Labour are the welfare party, obsessed with benefits, even if you’re not British. Why? Because it helps them get votes.” She added: “Previous Conservative administrations got immigration wrong. That is why I want to make sure we fix this once and for all.”
“This is a new Conservative Party. Indefinite leave to remain will no longer be a guaranteed ticket to benefits,” she said. “If someone arrives in this country under those previous rules, and they’re granted ILR by the Labour Government and they are not a net contributor, we will review and stop their indefinite leave to remain.”
She also said: “I will not allow Andy Burnham’s capitulation to cost you and your family more money. The days of low-skilled mass immigration must come to an end.”
Reaction to Labour's policy changes
Ms Mahmood on Monday confirmed care workers will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years – ten years before her original proposals – if they’ve earned £25,000-per-year in the sector. She also quietly dropped plans to restrict benefits to British citizens, watered down the qualifying period for lower-skilled, lower-paid migrants from 15 to 10 years, and paved the way for illegal arrivals to settle.
Foreign care workers who do not qualify for the five-year settlement will be able to apply for a new five-year visa, and then seek settlement once that has been completed.
In a stark warning to Labour, Mrs Badenoch said: “I’m putting people on notice - when we get into Government, we will scrap this weak policy.”
The controversial Home Office consultation on Labour’s original proposals revealed that foreign nationals declared they should be able to claim benefits if they are given settled status. Some 60% said migrants should be able to access public funds, and 77% of respondents with settled status declared they should be able to get handouts. Just over half of foreign nationals living in the UK on visas agreed.
Ms Mahmood declined to put a figure on the cost to the country of her watered-down plan. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday: “We will set out a full impact assessment when, around the period we lay the immigration rules before Parliament that will set out the full expected impacts.” She added: “There will be savings in the billions, but of course, allowing people to settle at five years, given the unique contribution of care workers in particular, obviously that does have an impact on the numbers.”
She said the changes would save the Department for Work and Pensions billions in benefits payments by preventing care workers who were no longer working in the sector – “the cohort that was most likely to fall upon the state” – from securing settlement after five years and subsequently claiming benefits.
The Home Office consultation document also revealed that 31% said there should be no visa penalty for migrants who have claimed benefits such as jobseekers’ allowance for under 12 months. Just over one in four said foreign nationals claim benefits for more than a year.
Left-wing charities and voluntarily led the opposition, analysis shows, with 76% opposing penalties for claims under 12 months. This falls to 71% if migrants claim benefits for more than a year.
Mrs Badenoch added: “Shabana knows what she is doing is wrong. So why has she caved? It’s because Labour is addicted to welfare. And what they are doing gives potentially hundreds of thousands of low-paid foreign nationals access to a life on benefits paid for by your taxes.” She said: “Andy Burnham thinks that is fair. It’s not fair. The truth is, he is appeasing the hard Left. He’s ditched the Home Secretary’s tougher proposals so that he can unite the left behind him to call an election.”
