Angela Rayner last night launched a broadside against Sir Keir Starmer as she attacked the Government’s immigration reforms as ‘un-British’.
The former deputy prime minister, who was forced to quit last year over a tax scandal, said plans to make it harder for migrants to settle in the UK are a ‘breach of trust’.
And in her strongest criticism of the Prime Minister to date, Sir Keir’s former deputy urged him to change course or face defeat at the ballot box.
Previously, migrants granted refugee status were given leave to stay for five years and could then apply for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ (ILR).
But last year Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced reforms that will see this extended from five to 10 years, with this applying to people who arrived since 2021.
Last night Ms Rayner, who is seen as a favourite among MPs to replace the Prime Minister should he face a leadership challenge, attacked the reforms at an event of the Labour soft-Left group Mainstream.
The former housing secretary said: ‘Enforcing a fair deal is not the same as ripping up a deal halfway through.
‘Many people came here to Britain on the understanding that if they’ve worked in the sectors where we needed them, obeyed the law and paid their taxes, that they could stay.
Angela Rayner said plans to make it more difficult for migrants to settle in the UK were a ‘breach of trust’
‘If we suddenly change that, it pulls the rug from under those that have planned their lives and commitments and they’re contributing to our economy and to our society. That would not just be 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 they do not know what will happen.
‘We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goal posts, because moving the goal post undermines our sense of fair play. It’s un-British.’
Ms Rayner’s comments, in a speech to the Mainstream group linked to Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, are her strongest to date and come after she broke ranks to criticise Sir Keir over welfare reforms and the release of files relating to the Lord Mandelson scandal.
Ms Rayner is widely seen as a potential successor to Sir Keir in the event of a leadership contest, which is thought could come if Labour faces electoral wipeout in the May local elections.
According to reports, Ms Rayner added: ‘As a party and a movement, we cannot hide. We cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline.
‘There’s no safe ground for us, and we’re running out of time. The change that people wanted to so desperately to see needs to be seen.
‘It needs to be felt, and we have to show that it’s a Labour government that will deliver it, and many of you in this room will deliver that for us. Our party is your party.
‘And we have to come together in the face of division of hate and make sure that the Labour Party represents the ordinary working people of this country. And I’m in there with you, so I can’t wait to get involved with you.’
Yesterday it also emerged that Ms Rayner is set to make more than £100,000 from private speaking engagements and an advance on her memoir, which is due out later this year.