The Walthamstow MP is one of many backbenchers who have criticised Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s changes to permanent settlement requirements, reports Marco Marcelline

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy has vocally opposed her party’s “cruel” move to return refugees if their home country is deemed safe.

The Labour and Co-operative MP yesterday warned that the policy, pushed forward by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, risked an “inevitable Windrush-style scandal that no [Labour MP] stood on a manifesto to implement”.

However, speaking at the Institute for Public Policy Research yesterday (5th March), Mahmood doubled down on her plans to toughen routes to permanent settlement for refugees and migrants. 

She said: “It is essential that the privilege of living in this country forever is earned, and not automatic. The qualifying period for settlement should move – as a norm – from five years to ten.

“Secondly, there will be certain conditions that must be met in order to qualify: a clean criminal record, no debt to the taxpayer, a history of being in work and paying taxes, and higher standards of English language.”

Among one of the more hardline policies Mahmood has proposed is to apply the aforementioned rule changes to the hundreds of thousands of non-EU migrants and their dependents who arrived between 2022 and 2024, when the Conservative government at the time significantly eased requirements for work visas.

For some groups, like benefit claimants, the pathway to permanent residency could be stretched to 15 or even 20 years.

Mahmood has already suspended study visas to people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, with the Home Office saying the action was being taken due to what it said was widespread visa abuse.

Creasy, who in a Guardian article also called on her party to be “True Labour not Blue Labour”, added: “There’s no ‘fairness’ in repeatedly spending money on asking victims of trafficking and civil war if they are still in that category – especially when we have already given them refugee status so confirmed they are at risk of harm.

“Ukrainians, Iranians [and] Afghans alike will all now live in a perpetual state of limbo, not able to plan any kind of life either here or in their home nation because they can’t guarantee their status, making them easier to exploit too.”

There are mounting signs that the government could face a significant backbench rebellion over the issue; Tony Vaughan, the MP for Folkestone and Hythe, yesterday organised a critical letter that had been signed by 100 Labour parliamentarians.  He said: “We can change our immigration system for the better without forgetting who we are as a Labour party.

“You don’t win back public confidence in the asylum system by threatening to forcibly remove refugees who have lived here lawfully for 15 or 20 years. That just breeds insecurity and fractured communities.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has offered Prime Minister Keir Starmer her party’s votes to ensure the legislation isn’t watered down or scrapped to appease rebellious Labour backbenchers.

In a letter to Starmer, she wrote: “In the national interest, and recognising that a large number of immigrants who entered our country in the past five years will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain in the very near term, I am making an offer to lend Conservative party votes to pass this legislation rather than abandoning it as you did with proper welfare reform.”

Last month, Waltham Forest Council and community figures called on Mahmood to “fundamentally rethink” planned changes to permanent residency rules.

In a joint statement, councillor Andrew Dixon, the cabinet member for stronger communities joined co-chair of Waltham Forest Borough of Sanctuary Averil Pooten-Watan in warning that the proposals could “deepen child poverty and increase homelessness” amongst people with asylum or refugee backgrounds.

Waltham Forest Migrant Action has said: “Mahmood’s decisions are beyond devastating and will impact tens of thousands of people seeking safety, causing further chaos and heartbreak. What these measures won’t do is serve as a deterrent – people are escaping precarious, life or death situations. What other options do they have? We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again – and again – we need more safe routes.”

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