Mahmood concedes her care worker climbdown will save taxpayers less than £10bn but refuses to put a figure on it
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, speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, said her revised immigration plans would deliver "savings in the billions" but would not be drawn on a precise figure. Her original proposals had been diluted after Cabinet resistance led by Housing Secretary Angela Rayner. The revised package drops the proposed 15-year wait for overseas care workers to obtain settlement, substituting a five-year pathway for those on at least £25,000 a year who satisfy visa requirements.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the U-turn wiped out the full £10bn in savings Mahmood had previously identified as her target.
Nigel Farage argued that the concessions would allow more than 200,000 Health and Care visa holders to obtain citizenship ahead of the next election, placing a lifetime price tag of £50bn on the move.
Only 18 per cent of the 202,000 people who responded to the consultation were British citizens — a proportion critics contend fatally compromised the whole process.
