Concerns have been raised over losing Labour's 'progressive' voters
Andy Burnham is set to “tinker” with Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms in hopes of avoiding a Labour revolt.
The Home Secretary kept her job in the transition between Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Burnham, although party sources have claimed the new Prime Minister will water down her reforms to avoid backbench rebellion.
Sources have said he is preparing to reduce the proposed length of time some migrants have to wait to gain the right to remain in Britain.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Mail: “Much like his predecessor, Andy Burnham is not serious about tackling immigration.
“He's surrounded himself with open borders activists and is reportedly capitulating to left-wing backbenchers on Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) reform before he has even got started.
“Only the Conservatives have the backbone and plan to tackle legal and illegal immigration to bring control to the border.”
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusu added: “Immigration is listed by many pollsters as the issue British voters are most concerned about.
“Yet Burnham did not mention it once in his first speech. He talks about listening to the people.
“He's only listening to his insane open borders backbench MPs.”
Under Ms Mahmood’s current plans, migrants would wait double the amount of time to gain indefinite leave to remain, jumping from 5 years to 10.
She said it would be applied retrospectively to people already in the UK to avoid a wave of claims from migrants who arrived after the coronavirus pandemic.
One option that appears to be on the table is exempting some migrants already in Britain from having to wait a decade.
Another is exemptions for some groups, such as social care and health workers.
More than 80 MPs wrote to Mr Burnham earlier this year asking him to water down the Immigration and Asylum Bill because Labour was losing its “progressive” voters.
A Government spokesman said: “The privilege of living here for ever should be earned.
“Between 2021 and 2024, this country experienced levels of migration it had historically seen over four decades.
“We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled migrants getting settlement.
"The Government will double the route to settlement from five to ten years.
“As announced in November, we are consulting to apply this change to those in the UK today but have not received settled status.”
