Shabana Mahmood has vowed reforms to migration law to tighten rules around claiming indefinite leave to remain, which allows legal migrants the ability to settle in the UK without having to renew a visa every few years.
The home secretary signalled in her first major interview since taking over the reins that she believed migration “has been too high”, telling The Sun On Sunday that she “totally” understands why people have concerns about it.
Ms Mahmood added: “We need legal migration, it is a good thing. We are a country that has always welcomed people who want to come and work here.
“But I think in addition to living and working here there is a bigger thing to do as well which is to make sure that people are making a contribution to their wider community and wider society.”
She said ministers are looking at how to ensure that indefinite leave to remain “is linked not just to the job you are doing”, but also “the wider contribution you are making to our communities”.
Plans around changing the rules on indefinite leave to remain come after Nigel Farage pledged to scrap the scheme if his Reform UK party wins the next general election.
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Can Reform scrap indefinite leave to remain?
Ms Mahmood said securing the border is “fundamental to holding the country together”, adding: “I know if I’m not able to get this mess sorted out, then there will be more division in our country.”
Sir Keir Starmer agrees, writing in The Daily Telegraph on Friday that it was now “essential” to tackle “every aspect of the problem of illegal immigration”.
“There is no doubt that for years left-wing parties, including my own, did shy away from people’s concerns around illegal immigration,” he said.
The prime minister unveiled a plan for a digital ID scheme this week, which he said would “make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure”.
It would require anyone starting a job or renting a home to show it on their phone, which would then be checked against a database of those entitled to work and live here.
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The plan sees digital IDs becoming mandatory for the right to work by the end of this parliament.
The prime minister said the scheme would “offer ordinary citizens countless benefits”, making it easier to apply for services such as driving licences, childcare and welfare.
Watch the Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips show every Sunday on Sky News from 8.30am. Our guests today include Housing Secretary Steve Reed, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, Labour peer Lord Glasman and Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce.
