Ministers working with backbenchers amid immigration overhaul concerns
Ministers concerned with home secretary Shabana Mahmood’s immigration changes are working with backbenchers concerned about planned immigration crackdowns.
Figures within government are trying to help rebel MPs secure more exemptions from reforms being spearheaded by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, according to The Guardian newspaper.
The changes are aimed at extending the amount of time migrants have to be in the UK before they can claim the right to stay in the country permanently.
Under the plans, most people would have to wait 10 years to qualify for indefinite leave to remain, rather than the existing five-year period.
Former deputy leader
Former deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner is among the backbenchers raising concerns the overhaul could apply retrospectively to migrants who already spent years living and working in the UK.
One leading backbench rebel told the Guardian that they believed that stopping the changes applying would be enough to quash the anger of most opponents.
Another said they felt MPs were being treated with a degree of “contempt” as they were not being given a chance to vote on the plans.
Meanwhile a third said some rebels had been rang up and “shouted at” after signing a letter condemning the proposals.
However a number of those who oppose, including the foreign affairs select committee chair Emily Thornberry, have said that a score of changes are needed, such as on the earned settlement element of the changes.
Another MP said: “I personally disagree with all of the changes to indefinite leave to remain, but I think that the majority of the cohort would accept that compromise.”
Downing Street sources said it had always been the case that the changes were subject to consultation.
Leading the tough approach
Mahmood has led the government’s attempts to toughen its approach on immigration in a bid to respond to the growth of Reform UK.
The number of family-related visas plummeted over 2025 as the government clamped down on dependants joining migrant workers and students.
In data published by the Home Office in February, it was revealed that just 67,000 visas were offered to spouses, children and other dependants of migrants.
It represented a sharp 22 per cent drop on 2024, with partner visas falling by 27 per cent to 41,000.
But many Labour MPs are anxious the Green’s victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection, in which Labour came third, shows the party is also facing an increasing from the left.
A group of 100 Labour MPs who signed a letter opposing the measures when they were announced, argued: “You don’t win back public confidence in the asylum system by threatening to forcibly remove refugees who have lived here lawfully for 15 or 20 years.”
Critics of the plan are also said to be preparing to invoke a rarely-used parliamentary procedure to force a symbolic vote on the measures in the coming months.