IFS brands Healey's first Budget 'unhelpful fiddling' and warns Britons face the worst decade of income growth on record

Labour whips have been scrambling to contain a rebellion stretching well beyond the 100 MPs who signed a formal protest letter, with the government's public consultation on the rules drawing over 200,000 responses. Mahmood is expected to announce her final decision to Parliament next week, sparing existing social care workers — who make up over a third of the adult care workforce — from the extended 15-year wait, while most other migrants will still face a doubled 10-year residency requirement.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner branded the retrospective changes 'un-British', and the PM this week refused to publicly back Mahmood's plans on live television.

Mahmood herself has admitted the full cost of low-wage care worker settlement rights could hit taxpayers £10 billion.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused her of preparing to 'surrender to the open-borders left' — as nearly 1,000 migrants crossed the Channel in just 48 hours.