Downing Street has refused to commit to the Home Secretary’s plan to toughen criteria for migrants to gain permanent residency, after Angela Rayner criticised the proposals as “un-British”.
Sir Keir Starmer “shares an impatience” to deliver change and is “firmly on the side of working people”, No 10 also said, after his former deputy appeared to challenge his leadership.
Ms Rayner, in a speech to an event held by campaign group Mainstream, said Shabana Mahmood’s planned changes to indefinite leave to remain for people already living in the UK would be a “breach of trust”.
Ms Rayner said that for those who came to Britain on the understanding that they could stay if they worked in sectors where they were needed, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, changing the rules “pulls the rug” from under them.
“That would be not just bad policy but a breach of trust. The people already in the system, who made a huge investment, now fear for their future, they do not have stability and do not know what will happen.
“We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goalposts, because moving the goalposts undermines our sense of fair play. It’s un-British,” the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne said.
The Home Secretary has announced plans to double the time it takes for migrants to qualify for permanent residence, from five to 10 years.
Challenged over Ms Rayner’s remarks on Wednesday, No 10 appeared to signal an openness to watering down Ms Mahmood’s plans, defending efforts to make the immigration system “fair” while declining to get ahead of a Government consultation on the measures.
It was a real pleasure to hear @AngelaRayner give a keynote speech at our Spring social this evening.
She’s delivered amazing things while in Government, and she’ll no doubt do more brilliant work in the future. pic.twitter.com/GJ6aMQByGY
The Prime Minister’s political spokesman told reporters: “We’re a proud, tolerant, generous country.
“Labour’s always been the party that celebrates the contribution migrant communities have made to our national story.
“In the four years before the election we saw record levels of immigration. In the manifesto we promised to deliver a fair and properly managed immigration system.
“We are considering responses to the Home Office consultation, and will respond in line with our principles and values.”
The consultation has closed and ministers would respond “in due course”, the spokesman added.
The spokesman also defended the Prime Minister after Ms Rayner said the party has come to represent “the establishment, not working people” and called for a change of course.
She told the event on Tuesday that Labour is “running out of time” to deliver change and cannot “go through the motions in the face of decline”.
Sir Keir’s political spokesman said: “The Prime Minister shares an impatience to deliver the change people voted for. We’re making progress, restoring stability to the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists and, next month, we will begin lifting half a million children (out of poverty).
“He’s firmly on the side of working people.”
Sir Keir and Ms Rayner maintain a good working relationship, the spokesman said, and “he would like to see her return to the Cabinet”.
But he said he was not aware of them having spoken in the past week.
Ms Rayner resigned as housing secretary and deputy prime minister last year after a row over her underpayment of stamp duty on a new property.
She has since been widely seen as a potential successor to Sir Keir amid rumblings of a leadership challenge, as both Labour’s poll ratings and the Prime Minister’s personal approval flounder.
Ms Rayner spoke at Mainstream after Tony Vaughan, who has co-ordinated a letter said to have been signed by more than 100 Labour parliamentarians urging the Government to rethink its immigration proposals, which also include a requirement for people to speak English to a higher standard in order to stay in Britain.
The Home Secretary has said that Labour values have guided the changes but that firm but fair action is needed.
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