Key facts
- Almost 300,000 care workers were given a carve-out to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years.
- High earners, people with strong British connections, and health and teaching workers can also settle in five years.
- Small boat arrivals face up to 30 years before applying for settlement under the new rules.
- Burnham said those making the most valuable contribution should be given the opportunity to settle earlier.
- Farage called the care workers carve-out the beginning of the capitulation on borders.
- Polling cited in the report suggests public support for doubling the waiting time for most migrants to 10 years.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham backed Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's migration reforms, which included a carve-out allowing almost 300,000 care workers to apply for indefinite leave to remain after five years. Burnham's statement came in a press release issued while he was out of the country, traveling to the Commonwealth leaders summit in Antigua, rather than in Parliament or at a press conference.
The reforms also let high earners, people with strong British connections, and those working in health and teaching settle in five years. The most restrictive rules, first drawn up by the Home Office a year ago, remain, including retrospective changes for many migrants and a requirement that small boat arrivals wait up to 30 years before applying for settlement.
Burnham said it was only fair that those making the most valuable contribution to communities be given the opportunity to settle earlier, while people in other roles should expect to wait longer and those who abuse the system or arrive illegally would be refused or wait longer. Farage described the care workers carve-out as the beginning of the capitulation on borders.
Polling cited in the report suggests public support for doubling the waiting time for most migrants to 10 years. Burnham, then mayor of Manchester, had earlier dismissed Reform's attack on him as soft on migration as ridiculous, saying his work at the Home Office under Tony Blair involved returning people with no basis to stay.