Chris Philp accuses Home Secretary of 'total capitulation' to Labour's 'hard left' - as she waters down migration crackdown

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has accused Shabana Mahmood of "capitulating" over plans to allow some care workers to qualify for permanent settlement in her new immigration reforms. Mr Philp said the government had "caved in completely" by preserving the five-year route for care workers who earn at least £25,000 and comply with visa rules. He told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast on LBC: “She’s going to let them all stay, even the ones who have committed fraud to get here, which is absolutely staggering.”

Mr Philp claimed allowing care workers to settle could cost taxpayers £10bn a year through access to benefits, healthcare, pensions and social housing. He said temporary work visas should end after five years unless a person was earning enough to make “a contribution to the British Exchequer”. On Monday, Ms Mahmood announced plans to allow foreign care workers in the UK earning at least £25,000 each year to qualify for permanent settlement after just five years .

Read More: Mahmood insists immigration overhaul is 'fair' and 'transformative' - but cannot tell LBC how much taxpayers will save Read More: Labour MP blasts Mahmood's 'cruel' small boat immigration reforms - and says around 100 backbenchers 'unhappy' Ms Mahmood has been criticised for the changes which her left-wing Labour colleagues have decried as "cruel" - but which right-wing opponents have suggested do not go far enough. Her initial plans, announced last year before a consultation, would have made them wait 15 years to apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

People earning more than £125,000 a year and those who have come to the UK on the Global Talent or Innovator Founder visas will be able to apply for ILR after just three years. Doctors, nurses, teachers and those earning over £50,271 will also be able to apply to settle after five years. Despite the watering down of the proposals, Ms Mahmood also announced that those who arrive in the UK through illegal means, such as crossing the Channel on small boats, could have to wait up to 30 years to permanently settle in Britain.

This element of the plans, along with the idea that residency should be based by contribution rather than time spent in Britain, was slammed by persistent Labour rebel Rachael Maskell. Ms Maskell, the MP for York Central, told LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr that Ms Mahmood should "scrap that concept of a system based on earnings", adding that "often the people that make the greatest contribution are the low wage workers". She added that the requirement for small boat migrants to wait up to 30 years to qualify for permanent settlement is "cruel", and told Andrew the government still "has further to go" to avoid a backlash similar to the welfare rebellion last year.

The sentiments were echoed by veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott, who said that the changes could risk a repeat of the Windrush scandal. She said: “You can come in legally, you can work legally and then have your residency rights turned upside down. How can that be fair?” Ms Mahmood is “in danger of finding herself in the same position as the home secretary who was in office at the time of the Windrush scandal”, the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP argued.

Responding to Ms Mahmood's announcement of the plans in the Commons, Green Party MP Hannah Spencer (Gorton and Denton) argued the changes “amount to an attack on lower-paid workers”. She added: “Does the Home Secretary agree that her changes send a clear message to people who’ve come here or people who are born here that they are worth less if they don’t earn enough?” Ms Mahmood said she “rejected that entirely”. After the speech, Ms Mahmood told LBC's Political Editor Natasha Clark that she "respectfully disagrees" with Ms Abbott.

The home secretary said: "These are transformative changes to our system for settlement in this country. "Until now, it's been an almost automatic process just based on length of time here. Going forwards, this will now be a system that rewards contribution. "It's not just a time-served model; it's about contribution and integration into our country. "So it's a transformative package for people applying for settlement in this country. And look, we did a genuine consultation, so I have heard the case made for care workers in particular, a unique cohort with exceptional circumstances reflecting the fact that they were recruited post-COVID when we had real problems in our care sector."

The Tories criticised the changes made from Ms Mahmood's initial proposals, saying the U-turn would cost the UK £10billion. Kemi Badenoch's party pointed to analysis that suggests that on average, a foreign care worker would contribute £36,000 less than they take out of the public purse. But Lord Glasman, a Labour life peer and leader of the Blue Labour campaign group, defended the home secretary as "a herald of the future". He told Andrew that Ms Mahmood did not need to "feel lonely" as she "has a lot of support" from his wing of the party, as well as the Prime Minister's backing.

Lord Glasman accepted many Labour MPs would not have been happy with the home secretary's plans but said it boiled down to a divide between "sovereignists and globalists" rather than a left-right split. "I think that's the way it's going," he said. "I think there is a very significant turn in the European Union countries towards sovereignty. I think we're going to be seeing that played out at the moment in Poland with the support for Le Pen in France and the AfD in Germany."

He also said Labour was failing to win the argument on the small boats crisis, meaning that despite the immigration crackdown, "more steps will have to be taken." He said it would have been "helpful" if Andy Burnham had been sitting next to Ms Mahmood as she unveiled the proposals. The Prime Minister left the UK on Monday to travel to the Caribbean for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting