Wednesday, October 21, 2026
More ministerial dissent over Labour's immigration policies
The paper says that Miatta Fahnbulleh said that extending the time that foreign citizens had to wait before being granted indefinite leave to remain threatened “the process of building cohesion”, she also warned that Labour needed to “raise the level of the debate” around migration and “challenge divisive political rhetoric”:
Under plans set out by Mahmood last year, foreign citizens would have to live in Britain for 15 years before they could be granted permanent settlement, up from five years at present. Migrants would be able to shorten the wait if they received a salary at a certain level or contributed to their communities, such as through voluntary work.
Opponents of the plans have criticised the impact they would have on social care workers in particular, many of whom are migrants and poorly paid.
In an interview with The Times last month, the housing secretary Angela Rayner said the plans were unfair because they would “change the goalposts” for migrants already in the UK.
Andy Burnham is also understood to be concerned about the proposals, which are expected to be watered down by the Home Office later this year.
Writing to voters in her Peckham constituency, Fahnbulleh suggested the proposed changes to the rules lacked compassion and that there should be a “much stronger focus on integration”.
In a post on her constituency website seen by The Telegraph, Fahnbulleh said her own area of southeast London was “a good example” of what can happen when “people are given the opportunity to integrate and participate”.
“Ultimately, I want to see a system based on control and compassion, with a much stronger focus on integration,” she wrote. “If we continually prolong the time people have to wait for settlement, we can also prolong the process of building cohesion.
“We need to raise the level of the debate, challenge divisive political rhetoric and make the case for communities like the one we have in Peckham. That means talking about immigration with care, control and compassion.”
Fahnbulleh, who is seen as being on the left of the Labour Party, is the latest senior figure to criticise the plans that were championed by Mahmood and the former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Fahnbulleh is not alone in her concern, more than 100 Labour MPs, as well as trade unions, have come out in opposition as well.
