Big push for Burnham to scrap UK immigration plans
Key Points
- Nearly 80 Labour MPs signed a private letter to Andy Burnham on immigration
- The letter urges a pause on Shabana Mahmood's settlement and asylum reforms
- MPs warned a 10-20 year settlement period would make the UK an international outlier
- Demands include closing asylum hotels and a right to work after six months
- The i Paper described the letter as the first Labour mutiny over the reforms
Nearly 80 Labour MPs have signed a private letter urging Andy Burnham to abandon Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration and asylum reforms.
The letter, handed to Burnham following his victory in the Makerfield by-election, congratulates him on a campaign focused on “hope and solutions, not division” but warns that Labour’s current approach to immigration is damaging the party’s voter coalition and playing into Reform UK’s hands.
The signatories urged Burnham to pause Mahmood’s planned settlement reforms, which would extend the qualifying period for Indefinite Leave to Remain, and to “refresh” the party’s overall immigration policy.
“People in Makerfield talked about irregular migration, not making it harder for nurses and care workers to settle here. With a 10-20 year settlement period, the UK would be an international outlier,” the MPs wrote.
The changes would directly affect workers already living in the UK, including NHS nurses and care staff, who would face a far longer wait for permanent status than under current rules.
The letter argues that most voters are “balancers” who want both control and compassion on migration.
“In this group, some prioritise order and control; while others prioritise compassion, justice and rights. We must speak to both groups simultaneously and persuasively. Currently, we are seen to talk much more about control than compassion,” the MPs wrote.
The signatories accused the party of reacting to Reform UK rather than setting its own course.
“But we have allowed ourselves to be blown off course. After Reform’s ‘Boris wave’ rhetoric, we decided to fight on Reform’s territory,” they wrote, adding that “talking tough is not the same as effective action” and that “this kind of reactive policy making is anathema to who we are, what we stand for, and how we should do politics.”
A list of demands
The letter sets out a series of specific demands.
These include a national migration levels plan linked to reindustrialisation and local government empowerment, the removal of “hostile rhetoric” from government communications, and a more efficient asylum system that closes asylum hotels, involves local authorities more closely, and clears application backlogs.
“We need an expansion of managed asylum routes, a review of the pause on family reunion for unaccompanied minors, and the introduction of the right to work for asylum seekers after six months,” the MPs wrote.
Allowing asylum seekers to work after six months would reduce their reliance on taxpayer-funded support, while closing asylum hotels would cut one of the largest ongoing costs in the asylum budget.
The letter stops short of calling for Mahmood’s removal as Home Secretary, but a change of course along the lines demanded would sideline her harder-line direction.
Mahmood set out her Immigration and Asylum Bill on Tuesday (30 June), which included a means-tested scheme requiring some recognised refugees to repay up to £10,000 in state-funded accommodation costs before qualifying for settled status.
