The Government has insisted its “position has not changed” on immigration reform, after Downing Street earlier refused to commit to proposals to toughen criteria for migrants to gain permanent residency following criticism from Angela Rayner.
Ministers will “double the route to settlement from five to 10 years”, a spokesperson said, repeating the Home Secretary’s assertion that permanent residence is a “privilege” to be earned.
Ms Rayner, in a speech to an event held by campaign group Mainstream, said Shabana Mahmood’s planned changes to indefinite leave to remain for people already living in the UK would be a “breach of trust”.
No 10 then appeared to signal an openness to watering down Ms Mahmood’s plans on Wednesday, defending efforts to make the immigration system “fair” while declining to get ahead of a consultation on the measures.
But in a later statement, a Government spokesperson said: “The Government’s position has not changed.
“We will always welcome those that come to this country and contribute to our national life. But the privilege of living here forever should be earned, not automatic.
“But between 2021 and 2024, this country experienced levels of migration it had historically seen over four decades. We must be honest about the scale and impact of hundreds of thousands of low-skilled migrants getting settlement.
“The Government will double the route to settlement from five to 10 years. As announced in November, we are consulting to apply this change to those in the UK today but have not received settled status. We are currently reviewing the 200,000 responses and will outline our response in due course.”
It was a real pleasure to hear @AngelaRayner give a keynote speech at our Spring social this evening.
— Mainstream (@mainstreamlbr) March 17, 2026
She’s delivered amazing things while in Government, and she’ll no doubt do more brilliant work in the future. pic.twitter.com/GJ6aMQByGY
In her speech on Tuesday, Ms Rayner argued that for those who came to Britain on the understanding that they could stay if they worked in sectors where they were needed, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, changing the rules “pulls the rug” from under them.
“That would be not just bad policy but a breach of trust. The people already in the system, who made a huge investment, now fear for their future, they do not have stability and do not know what will happen,” the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne said.
“We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goalposts, because moving the goalposts undermines our sense of fair play. It’s un-British.”
Pressed on her remarks, the Prime Minister’s political spokesman had told reporters that “we are considering responses to the Home Office consultation, and will respond in line with our principles and values”.
The consultation had closed and ministers would respond “in due course”, the spokesman added.
“Our response will be in line with this Government’s belief that anyone that has come to our country and is contributing to our national life and economy should be given a fair path to settlement,” he said.
The spokesman also defended the Prime Minister after Ms Rayner said the party has come to represent “the establishment, not working people” and called for a change of course.
She told the event on Tuesday that Labour is “running out of time” to deliver change and cannot “go through the motions in the face of decline”.
“The Prime Minister shares an impatience to deliver the change people voted for. We’re making progress, restoring stability to the economy, cutting NHS waiting lists and, next month, we will begin lifting half a million children (out of poverty),” Sir Keir Starmer’s political spokesman said.
“He’s firmly on the side of working people.”
Sir Keir and Ms Rayner maintain a good working relationship, the spokesman said, and “he would like to see her return to the Cabinet”.
But he said he was not aware of them having spoken in the past week.
Ms Rayner resigned as housing secretary and deputy prime minister last year after a row over her underpayment of stamp duty on a new property.
She has since been widely seen as a potential successor to Sir Keir amid rumblings of a leadership challenge, as both Labour’s poll ratings and the Prime Minister’s personal approval flounder.
Ms Rayner spoke at Mainstream after Tony Vaughan, who has co-ordinated a letter said to have been signed by more than 100 Labour parliamentarians urging the Government to rethink its immigration proposals, which also include a requirement for people to speak English to a higher standard in order to stay in Britain.
