‘Contribution is a condition’ of staying in the UK, says home secretary

Migrants will be forced to prove they are net contributors to society and have never claimed benefits in order to qualify for permanent residency in Britain, under new rules set out by the government on Monday.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced plans to block foreign nationals from obtaining indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they have a criminal record or do not speak English to a high standard.

The proposals also stipulate that foreign citizens must volunteer in their community and pay national insurance to qualify for permanent residency. This would not apply to migrants who already have settled status in Britain.

In a speech to the Labour party conference, Mahmood spoke of her own parents who came to the country from Pakistan and contributed to society.

“The British people have always welcomed those who come here and work hard and give back,” she said, adding that “contribution is a condition of that welcome”.

The home secretary tried to distinguish Labour’s policy from anti-immigration sentiment, saying that many Britons feel that “patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller, something more like ethno-nationalism,” she said.

The government is seeking to draw a clear dividing line with Reform UK, which this month pledged to scrap indefinite leave to remain for migrants as leader Nigel Farage warned “the era of cheap foreign labour is over”.

Under Reform’s plans, hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals, including those who already have indefinite leave to remain, would be deported.

Mahmood’s reforms, to be consulted on later in the year, build on Labour’s previous pledge to extend the default period that migrants need to be in Britain before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain from five to 10 years. This policy would not apply to migrants who had already arrived in Britain, a person close to Mahmood said on Monday.

During her first speech as home secretary, Mahmood said “we will always remain a country that gives refuge to those who are fleeing peril”, but vowed to crack down on small boat crossings to the UK.

“In solving this crisis, you may not always like what I do. We will have to question some of the assumptions and legal constraints that have lasted for a generation and more,” she warned.

“Until we can decide who comes in and who must leave, we will never be the open, tolerant and generous country that I know we all believe in.”

But critics argue that ministers are sending a message that Farage’s diagnosis of the country’s problems is wrong, while at the same time implicitly conceding there is an issue with how permanent residency is granted in Britain.

Marley Morris, associate director at the think-tank IPPR, said refugees already had access to the welfare system, raising questions over whether they would be ineligible for ILR under the new policy.

Care workers would also be affected by the planned changes. Tens of thousands who have come to the UK since 2022 are believed to be adrift after their employers proved unable to offer the work promised and lost their sponsorship licence.

They do not currently qualify for benefits, but may not be paying national insurance if they are out of work, and might struggle to meet toughened English language requirements. 

Most skilled workers, however, would be affected only by the new requirement to do community volunteering.

Lawyers and immigration advisers said this facet of the policy could lead to long queues of visa-holders applying to be school governors, and a cottage industry of companies ready to accredit litter-picking efforts. 

On Sunday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described Farage’s immigration policy as “racist” and “immoral”, though he clarified that he did not believe the people that supported the policy were “racists”. Starmer aides admitted that the use of the “R-word” was not pre-planned.

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s head of policy, said on Sunday: “Labour’s message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or Labour will call you racist.”