UK plans tougher rules for migrants seeking to stay in country
[LONDON] Migrants seeking to settle in the UK will have to have a job, not claim benefits, and undertake community work under plans to be unveiled by the interior minister on Monday.
Currently, those with family in Britain and who have lived there for five years qualify for “indefinite leave to remain” - permanent residence - as do those who have lived legally in the UK for 10 years on any type of visa.
Eligible applicants meeting those thresholds also earn the right to live, work and study in the UK and to apply for benefits and British citizenship.
But in a major policy shift, interior minister Shabana Mahmood was on Monday to announce that migrants would have to make social security contributions, claim no benefits, have a clean criminal record and volunteer in their community in order to stay.
Mahmood will outline the plans at the annual conference of the ruling Labour party, and the government will consult on the changes later this year, according to a press release from the party.
The announcement comes shortly after the opposition hard-right Reform Party, which is currently leading in national polls, said it would get rid of “indefinite leave to remain” altogether, with migrants instead required to reapply for visas every five years.
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This would apply to the hundreds of thousands of people who have already attained leave to remain.
“These measures draw a clear dividing line between the Labour government and Reform, whose recent announcement... would force workers, who have been contributing to this country for decades, to leave their homes and families,” said the Labour party statement.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday called Reform’s plan “racist”, adding it would “tear the country apart”.
In her first speech to the Labour conference as interior minister, Mahmood will say that migrants should learn English to a high standard and that she will be a “tough” minister.
Immigration is a key issue in the UK, and Mahmood will warn party members that a failure to tackle it will mean that “working people will turn away from us... and seek solace in the false promises” of Reform leader Nigel Farage.
Biggest boat
The UK saw the largest number of migrants arrive on a single vessel this weekend, highlighting how the crisis is deteriorating despite Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s pledge to “smash” the smuggling gangs ferrying people across the English Channel.
A boat carrying 125 people crossed to England from France on Saturday.
The incident broke a previous record from August when 107 people crossed in what was described at the time by UK media as a “mega-dinghy” and comes just weeks after Bloomberg reported the first unescorted beach landing of a migrant boat in almost three years.
“These small boats crossings are utterly unacceptable and the vile people-smugglers behind them are wreaking havoc on our borders,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement. “Protecting the UK border is my priority as home secretary and I will explore all options to restore order to our immigration system.”
The unwanted record comes on a weekend Starmer is seeking to turn around his Labour Party’s flagging fortunes at its annual conference in Liverpool. It draws attention to an issue the premier is desperate to get a handle on in order to blunt the rise of Nigel Farage, the anti-immigration populist who leads the poll-leading Reform UK Party.
Total numbers of crossings so far this year are already at record levels despite recent agreements Starmer has put in place, including a returns deal with France. Some 895 people crossed the channel in 12 so-called small boats on Saturday.
Two women died off the coast of Northern France while attempting the crossing on the same day, French officials told AFP. A couple and their child suffering from moderate hypothermia were also rushed to hospital, the agency reported. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
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