Mahmood admits her care worker U-turn will push up the welfare bill and savings will fall short of £10bn
Nigel Farage, who vowed to rescind citizenship grants that do not add value to Britain, as Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also quietly dropped plans to bar newly settled migrants from claiming benefits.Andy Burnham (left), Mayor of Greater Manchester, with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner — whose support for the care-worker climbdown means 282,000 of the 1.9 million migrants due to settle by 2030 will face no extra delay.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood conceded on Tuesday that her revised immigration settlement plans will drive up welfare spending, with savings amounting to "in the billions" — though she refused to specify what the policy climbdown will cost taxpayers. Her original proposals would have made lower-qualified care workers who arrived on "Boriswave" Health and Care visas from 2022 serve a 15-year wait before qualifying for permanent settlement, a measure her own Home Office had projected would deliver £10bn in lifetime benefit savings. After Cabinet pressure from ministers including Angela Rayner and sustained resistance from Labour backbenchers, Mahmood announced that care workers earning at least £25,000 and meeting their visa conditions will become eligible after five years.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp labelled the concession a £10bn U-turn, demanding Mahmood identify who would foot the bill.
Nigel Farage went further, warning that over 200,000 Health and Care visa migrants would acquire citizenship ahead of the next election, at what he put as a lifetime cost of £50bn.
Around 100 Labour backbenchers are reported to be dissatisfied with the package, with rebel MP Rachael Maskell describing the 30-year settlement wait for small boat arrivals as 'cruel'.
