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Leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said immigrants who arrive in Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically be allowed to remain in the country permanently, urging the Labour government to retain its proposed 10-year qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain.
Badenoch made the remarks in a post shared on her X handle on Monday while releasing a letter addressed to the UK’s Home Secretary.
In the post, she criticised calls by some Labour lawmakers for the government to soften its planned immigration reforms.
“People who come to Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically be able to stay forever.
“This Labour government was right to make that harder. Now their MPs want them to u-turn.
“Conservatives will back Labour’s original plan to help get it through Parliament,” she wrote.
The letter, jointly signed by Badenoch and the Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, expressed concern over reports that the Labour government was considering exempting around two million migrants who entered the United Kingdom on work visas between 2021 and the present from the proposed extension of the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain.
The Conservative leader described such a move as “a grave mistake,” insisting that Britain had previously experienced the consequences of allowing migrants to obtain permanent settlement too quickly.
“As Conservatives learned to our cost, five years is too short a time to obtain the indefinite right to remain in the UK,” the letter read.
She argued that many migrants currently working in low-paid and low-skilled jobs could be replaced by economically inactive British citizens if appropriate opportunities were created.
“Many of these immigrants are working in low wage, low skilled jobs which could be done by some of the 9 million economically inactive British citizens,” she stated.
According to Badenoch, migrants who fail to make what she described as a significant economic contribution over a decade should return to their home countries once their temporary work visas expire.
“Individuals who are not making a significant economic contribution over a ten-year period should not be allowed to stay indefinitely. Those not working, or working in low paid jobs, should be required to go home at the end of their temporary work visa,” she added.
The Conservative leader also argued that granting indefinite leave to remain after only five years would place additional pressure on the UK’s welfare system because successful applicants become entitled to social benefits and can subsequently apply for British citizenship.
“Receiving ILR currently carries full entitlement to receive benefits. Even if this were restricted for an additional qualification period as some have called for, as things stand the migrants concerned would become eligible for British citizenship a year after receiving ILR and it would be very difficult to restrict benefits for citizens,” the letter said.
She further noted that there was currently no provision in the Immigration and Asylum Bill or existing legislation that would allow the government to alter welfare entitlements for people granted indefinite leave to remain.
Badenoch maintained that extending the qualifying period from five years to 10 years would not amount to a retrospective change because temporary work visas do not guarantee permanent settlement.
“The government is perfectly entitled to decide at any time the rules on indefinite rights of settlement, including in relation to those here already.
“No one who has come here on a temporary work visa should have the automatic right to stay forever and changing the rules to extend the qualification period and add conditions for new applications does not constitute a retrospective change,” she wrote.
In the letter, Badenoch also offered the Conservative Party’s support if Labour decides to proceed with its original proposal without amendments.
“If you table the proposals set out last autumn in undiluted form, either in the Immigration Rules or as part of the Immigration and Asylum Bill, we will support them.
“In government we would of course go further but on this time-sensitive matter we make this offer to cooperate in the national interest,” she stated.
She said the government’s decision on the matter would ultimately show whether Labour was genuinely committed to reducing immigration and strengthening border controls.
“Whether or not you stand by your own proposals is a test of whether the Labour Party is serious about controlling our borders — or not,” the letter added.
The letter was also copied to Andy Burnham, whom Badenoch referred to as the anticipated incoming Prime Minister, as political debate over the future direction of the UK’s immigration policy continues.
