Labour ministers are lobbying Mahmood for more migrant worker visas 'at least once every week or two', she reveals

From the Newshound archive · first published 5 October 2026.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has exposed a cabinet-wide push to import foreign workers, admitting colleagues across government bombard her with requests for visas — including for jobs as basic as welders — despite Labour's pledge to cut net migration. She told 'The Rest Is Politics' podcast she pushes back by demanding ministers train up British workers instead, accusing her own party of being too ready to 'pull the immigration lever'. Mahmood's candour exposes a raw split inside the government between economic departments treating migrant labour as a growth engine and the Home Office trying to hold the line.

Almost a million young Britons are currently not in employment or education, Mahmood pointed out as she challenged her colleagues' requests.

The admission echoes Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden's candid remark, revealed in the Mandelson files, that every meeting he attends is 'who can we tax in order to pay benefits to others'.

Mahmood also warned that Palestine Action supporters must face the same treatment as white-supremacist group members — no special exemption for political sympathy.