Speaking to ITV for another ‘100 days of Burnham’ interview, the PM was asked if inward legal migration is too high:
“Yeah, it it’s come right down. And I think when you have planned migration, it’s difficult to say is it too high or too low because it’s got to be, if you like, following gaps in the economy because if you just put a number on it, we may have a shortage in a certain area…
It’s in a much better place than it was because boat crossings are down and net migration overall is down and down quite significantly. So there’s a much better control of it. What I have argued is that migration and illegal immigration changed significantly with Brexit. And I think we’ve got to be honest about that.”
The legal figures are still well over 150,000 a year net. British voters have backed manifestos promising tens of thousands for decades now…
Shabana Mahmood is set to water down her flagship settlement reforms after a revolt from Labour MPs and the Cabinet. The Home Secretary is set to care workers like doctors and nurses, letting them “earn” time off their wait for indefinite leave to remain by working in the public sector. Tough talk lasted a year…
Under Mahmood’s original plans, set out last November, most skilled workers would wait ten years for ILR rather than five, while the lowest paid, including care workers, would wait 15. Now a care worker with five years of public sector service can knock five years off that wait. That covers 117,000 low-paid care workers and their 79,000 dependants…
Angela Rayner has claimed victory over Mahmood after she led efforts against the changes. More than 100 Labour backbenchers and the major unions also lined up to oppose them.
Exempting care workers entirely could cost the taxpayer almost £10 billion. ILR unlocks benefits, and every low-paid care worker’s net lifetime fiscal contribution is calculated to be minus £36,000, rising to minus £67,000 for their dependants. Clue: they aren’t care workers for long…
Mahmood will announce her package of reforms tomorrow. Game over for Labour talk on immigration control…
Krishnan Guru-Murthy asked John Healey: “Just finally, I mean Andy Burnham has been very clear he wants Britain back in the European Union in his lifetime. Do you?”
The Chancellor replied: “I’m older than Andy Burnham. I don’t expect to see that.”
