GB News interrupted its evening programme on Monday (November 2) to deliver a breaking news alert on the Home Secretary's new immigration reforms, a development that sparked heated debate on the show.
Presenter Martin Daubney, 56, announced that Shabana Mahmood is beginning major overhauls to the UK's legal migration and earned settlement system. She has scaled back her most hardline plans to make care workers wait 15 years for settlement, but told MPs that many migrants would still face retrospective rule changes requiring them to wait a decade.
Care worker carve-out and remaining rules
Under pressure from a cabinet backlash and health unions, Mahmood has offered a carve-out for care workers, allowing them to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years.
However, most of the rigorous new rules drawn up by her office last year remain in place, including plans to force those who arrive in the UK by irregular means, such as small boats, to wait up to 30 years before applying for settlement.
Reactions from the panel
The changes drew immediate criticism from the Conservative and Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, who branded the move "the beginning of the capitulation." Mahmood insisted to the Commons that she would still enact sweeping changes that will mean many migrant workers will wait twice as long as they had expected for settlement.
She said the settlement was "one of the most valuable rights this country can offer. Until now it has been given almost automatically. From today, it must be earned. Those who contribute will settle fastest. Those who don't play by the rules will be refused or wait much longer."
Panel debate and consultation concerns
Daubney welcomed a guest panel onto the show, including former Labour MP Stephen Pound and former Attorney General Sir Michael Ellis. The host branded the development "treacherous," saying: "This is treacherous. Asylum seekers are being asked if they want to be deported, and they're saying no. Of course they're saying no."
Ellis defended Mahmood's actions, noting that "if it was 82% of the people who had some skin in the game and she wanted to extend immigration rights in the country, she's done the opposite; she's restricted it." He added that consultations are often "hijacked by pressure and interest groups," citing that 82% of participants in the consultation had an interest in making the policy as weak as possible, with only 18% being British people.
Ellis predicted: "I think Shabana Mahmood's time is numbered because I think she's not getting the support from No. 10 that she wants, and she clearly has had to do a U-turn because of the pressure from the far-left." Pound countered: "That is simply not true. At the moment, social media is awash with people saying this is a dictatorial, fascist Government that's cracking down and being cruel to immigrants."
The debate followed a social media post from GB News stating that small boat migrants are eligible to apply for indefinite leave to remain under Mahmood's latest migration reform. Fans also took to social media to voice their frustrations at the major changes to immigration rights online.
