Monday, September 28, 2026
Is the Labour government split on immigration?
The paper says that in an interview with The Times on the eve of Labour’s party conference in Liverpool, the communities secretary and former deputy prime minister stood by her previous description of the home secretary’s plans as “un-British”:
The reforms will increase the timeline for permanent residence from five years to 15 years for foreign social care workers, and will apply to all those who have come to the UK since 2021.
The plans are also opposed by other figures across Labour, and could be the source of a row among its ranks at its conference, which begins in earnest in the prime minister’s native Merseyside on Sunday.
Asked whether she had raised the issue with Ms Mahmood, Ms Rayner, who stood down from government in 2025 before being reappointed by Andy Burnham, told The Times: “I think Shabana knows. It was in the newspaper at the time. I have not changed my view on that.”
“Especially in regards to the carers, who were asked to come to this country to care for some of our most vulnerable and then we changed the goalposts years down the line, I think that’s very disruptive.
“I do have concerns about that … when you ask someone to come here and look after your most vulnerable and they spend years dedicating themselves, moving their lives here to look after our loved ones.”
However, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said she did not think the planned changes to migration law were “un-British”.
“I don’t think that we’ve ever had an automatic right to citizenship for most people who come to the UK from overseas”, she said.
“The home secretary is trying to “balance the respect and gratitude that we all feel to people who come to this country, who make a contribution” with the need for an immigration system the public can have confidence in, Ms Nandy added.
The UK's reliance on migrant labour to deliver key services such as social care and health should be a major factor in determining policy. instead the Home Secretary seems set on putting more obstacles in the way of those coming here to do those jobs.
Angela Rayner is absolutely right to challenge this, and in doing so is indicating that the government is split over this policy. How will the Prime Minister reconcile these views when he is placing such a strong emphasis on sorting out social care?
