Migrant care employees in shackles demand Shabana Mahmood migration U-turn
Hundreds of care workers joined a demonstration outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool demanding Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s proposed settlement plans are torn up
Migrant care workers called on Shabana Mahmood to rip up proposed changes to settlement rules
Migrant care workers brandishing chains have called on Andy Burnham to tear up controversial changes to settlement rules.
Hundreds of men and women affected by the plans pleaded with Mr Burnham and Shabana Mahmood to reconsider trebling their qualification time for settlement. The plans have sparked an outcry, with dozens of Labour MPs calling for the proposals – which Angela Rayner has branded “un-British” – to be watered down.
Speaking at a demo outside the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, care worker Barbara Tanyanyiwa told The Mirror: “They promised us five years, so we want them to keep the promise. We want Shabana Mahmood to keep the promise, we do not want them to change the goalposts when we are already at the doorstep.”
Mr Burnham has pledged to finally tackle Britain’s broken care system by creating a new National Care Service – but has been warned this cannot be achieved without staff from overseas.
Ms Tanyanyiwa, from Zimbabwe, said: “We are glad that the Prime Minister is talking about revamping the care sector. Yes, we are with him, but we are saying do not revamp it without us, because there is nothing without us.”
And Chukwuemeka Aluu, who took part in a procession depicting care workers in shackles, said the proposals were a betrayal of thousands who keep the care sector afloat.
He said: “Our people are dying in silence. Some of them cannot even voice their concerns for fear of being victimised at the place of work, for fear of the Home Office cancelling their visa and sending them home.”
He added: “This policy is not justice. Her (Ms Mahmood’s) policy is not fairness. Her policy is not equity. Shabana Mahmood should listen to us now and revert to the agreement before we came to this country, we were promised five-year settlement.
“Let her allow those who are already on the route to settlement to obtain their ILR in five years. She should not shift the goalposts in the middle of the game. She is creating chaos, she is creating uncertainty.”
Ms Mahmood has put forward plans to double the standard wait for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five years to 10. For migrant care workers, the qualification period would increase to 15 years if the proposals go ahead.
The government is expected to announce its final decision later this year after a consultation on the proposals attracted more than 200,000 responses.
Mr Burnham said he recognised the work of migrant care workers, telling LBC: “There’s a range of views that have gone into that consultation.” But he said of migrant social care workers “we recognise them” and insisted the system would not work “without them”.
Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said: “The NHS, social care and other essential services rely on the hard work of migrant staff. People who came to this country to help look after our loved ones are forced to work on restricted visas under harsh rules which make them second class citizens.
“Now the promise of being able to settle in the country after five years is not only being broken but replaced with the threat of 15 years of insecurity and exploitation. Moving the goalposts at this stage in the game is wrong and unfair. Migrant workers must not be made scapegoats for decades of political failure to invest in public services.”
At the moment everyone who comes to the UK on a work visa is eligible after five years. Ms Mahmood wants to create an ‘earned citizenship’ model, extending the standard wait to 10 years – but with the option to reduce this through community work and volunteering.
Ms Mahmood argues people must abide by the rules at the point they apply for ILR, not when they entered the country. NHS doctors and high earners will have shorter routes to settlement if the proposals go ahead.
