Shabana Mahmood considering emergency plans to avoid migration chaos

Shabana Mahmood is considering emergency plans to force migrants who arrived in the so-called "Boris-wave" to wait longer to apply for settlement rights.

The new Home Secretary said foreign arrivals will have to work, make national insurance contributions, learn English to a "high" standard, have a clean criminal record and give back to their communities to earn indefinite leave to remain.

And migrants will be forced to wait 10 years before they can apply, double the current time limit.

While these changes will not be applied retrospectively amid concerns over the Boris-wave, Ms Mahmood is considering separate changes to cover the 1.3 million people who arrived between 2021 and 2024, it is understood.

Research by the Centre for Policy Studies has predicted as many as 800,000 of this cohort will get ILR.

Ms Mahmood told the Labour Party conference: "We will soon increase the time in which someone must have lived in this country to earn "indefinite leave to remain" from five years to 10.

"We will be consulting on this change soon. As part of that consultation, I will be proposing a series of new tests, such as: being in work; making national insurance contributions; not taking a penny in benefits; learning English to a high standard; having no criminal record; and finally, that you have truly given back to your community, such as by volunteering your time to a local cause.

"Without meeting these conditions, I do not believe your ability to stay in this country should be automatic.

"Some will be able to earn an earlier settlement than 10 years, based on their contribution, while others will be forced to wait longer if they are not contributing enough. In some cases, they will be barred from indefinite leave to remain entirely.

"The British people have always welcomed those who come here, who work hard and who give back."Time spent in this country alone is not enough."

Some 1,235,254 people moved to the UK in the 12 months to June 2024 while 496,536 emigrated. This accounted for 98% of the UK's overall increase in population across this period.

The ONS revealed the population grew by 755,254 in the year to June 2024, the second-highest year on record. The previous record was set a year before - 890,049. Net migration hit a staggering record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023, following an increase of 607,000.

As many as 800,000 could apply for indefinite leave to remain - and get access to benefits, the NHS and social homes - after they have lived in the UK for five years. The first of this cohort could apply for indefinite leave to remain from January.

And the Home Secretary warned that a failure to tackle the record number of arrivals could lead to Britain tearing itself apart, amid a surge in nationalism.

Ms Mahmood told the Labour party conference: "That broad vision of who we are is increasingly disputed. Patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller. Something more like ethno-nationalism. Which struggles to accept that someone who looks like me, and has a faith like mine, can truly be English or British.

"There are some who we will never be able to persuade. But there are others, a growing number, who are on a path from patriotism towards ethno-nationalism. This can be stopped.

"But to do so, we have to understand why so many feel this country is not working for them. Because the truth is, people across this country feel like things are spinning out of control.

"And without control, we simply do not have the conditions in which our country can be open, tolerant and generous."

Ms Mahmood said the "heirs to the skinheads and the Paki-bashers of old" were among those who took to the streets of London for the Unite the Kingdom rally.

Between 110,000 and 150,000 people turned out for the rally organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson on September 13, according to the Metropolitan Police.

Ms Mahmood told the conference: "Just days into this job, on September 13, 150,000 people marched through London.

"They did so under the banner of a convicted criminal and a former BNP (British National Party) member. While not everyone was violent, some were, 26 police officers were injured as they tried to keep the peace.

"And while not everyone chanted racist slogans, some did. Clear that in their view of this country, I have no place. It would be easy to dismiss this as nothing but an angry minority, heirs to the skinheads and the Paki-bashers of old, and make no mistake, some were.

"But to dismiss what happened that day would be to ignore something bigger, something broader, that is happening across this country. Patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller.

"Something more like ethno-nationalism, which struggles to accept that someone who looks like me, and has a faith like mine, can truly be English or British. There are some who we will never be able to persuade.

"But there are others, a growing number, who are on a path from patriotism towards ethno-nationalism, and this can be stopped."

Migration Watch Chairman, Alp Mehmet, said: "The lame measures proposed by Ms Mahmood will have little impact on the inflow of both legal and illegal migration. What she said had more to do with placating disgruntled Labour voters, and not irking her party-activist audience too much, than addressing the root causes of the problem - the loss of control of our borders. The British people deserve better."

Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP said: "Her speechwriters may have toughened her rhetoric, but the Home Secretary's speech won't wash with the public.

"Let's not forget; this is a government that has talked a big game on illegal migration, all whilst welcoming the record number of illegal migrants that have landed on our shores.

"The choice is clear: a strong, common-sense approach that slashes migration and prioritises Brits with Reform UK, or a weak, watered-down imitation with Keir Starmer's Labour Party."