‘If the Government thinks this week’s hard-line immigration shift will help halt the nosedive in its support, they’re wrong.’
Labour MPs have criticised the Home Secretary’s announcements on immigration this week, calling them “desperate political posturing” and “regressive”.
On Monday, the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced that refugee status will become temporary and be reviewed every 30 months. Refugees could then be returned to their home nation if it is deemed safe.
In addition, refugees will have to wait 20 years to permanently settle in the UK, instead of the current five.
Yesterday, Mahmood made some further hardline announcements on Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). She said that those who have entered the UK ‘illegally’ will have to wait up to 30 years to settle.
Asylum seekers who have claimed benefits could be barred from qualifying for ILR for up to 20 years.
While doctors, nurses and teachers will still be able to apply for ILR after five years, migrant workers in lower paid jobs, such as care assistants, would need to wait 15 years before becoming eligible.
Responding to the government’s proposed immigration reforms, Clive Lewis MP told Left Foot Forward: “Making sure people have confidence in their borders and sovereignty is important. But if the Government thinks this week’s hard-line immigration shift will help halt the nosedive in its support, they’re wrong.”
He added: “Evidence from other countries shows many voters will see this as extreme and cruel. Others will see it for the desperate political posturing it is and turn further to the authoritarian right, who’ll move on to saying even the Home Secretary’s performative cruelty doesn’t go far enough.”
The Norwich South MP said that the proposals mark “a fundamental shift in the role of the state and how it treats rights”.
“History is littered with examples of people on the margins – prisoners, the homeless, people on benefits – being used by governments to push through conditionality.”
“I would say to the public, look beyond tough talk about deporting children and see how the government used this announcement to double down on rolling out hugely unpopular digital ID cards. A voiceless group of people is being used to usher in such policies. Do you think it is going to end there?”.
Rachael Maskell MP called the policies “regressive”.
She told Left Foot Forward: “Government should be building unity across our communities, recognising the significant contribution that people who come to our country make in holding up our health and care system, harvesting our food and building our homes.”
On the proposal to make lower paid migrant workers wait 15 years to qualify for ILR, Maskell said: “Placing greater penalty on those who work long hours on low pay is yet another false demarcation which divides not unites.”
The York Central MP said that the government should have carried out a consultation before bringing forward these policies.
“Consultation is needed, for sure, and had this been undertaken before regressive policies were announced, Labour could have found itself in a different place now,” she said.
Maskell said she trusts that the government will act on evidence and broaden the scope of the consultation. She also said the consultation should “recognise the incredible contribution that people who come to our country make and end the stigmatisation and ‘othering’ of workers and families and communities, who come to serve, to build our country and enable us to address the challenges that people right across society face”.
She added: “Upholding human rights and responsibilities is the responsibility of Government and ensuring that those who have extracted and profited out of the system for their own gain, not least at the expense of the working classes, start to pay their way. Let’s change the tune, and see who really is gaming the system.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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