Shabana Mahmood admits her settlement U-turn for foreign care workers will save less than £10bn and raise the welfare bill
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.
Mahmood acknowledged on BBC Radio 4 that her revised settlement plans will deliver savings below the £10bn her original proposals were expected to produce, and she conceded that the reversal will push the welfare bill higher. Under the climbdown, care workers earning at least £25,000 who came to the UK before May 2025 will qualify for indefinite leave to remain after just five years — a sharp reduction from the 15-year wait she had previously insisted upon. The number of people facing delayed settlement will now stand at just over 500,000, well down from nearly 800,000 under her original plans, while 1.9 million people remain on course to settle by 2030.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded it 'total capitulation', claiming it will cost taxpayers £10bn a year once benefits, healthcare and social housing are factored in.
Farage called the move 'the beginning of the capitulation' and vowed to review each citizenship granted under the scheme if Reform wins power.
