By: Tunji Okunlola
UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has said people who arrive in Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically be allowed to settle permanently without going through the proper process, urging the Labour government to hold firm on its plan requiring a decade of UK residence before anyone can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Badenoch set out her position in a post on X on Monday, which also formed part of a letter sent to the Home Secretary. She pushed back against Labour MPs pressing the government to soften its immigration rules, arguing that ministers were right to make the path to settlement harder and warning against any reversal now. She said the Conservatives would support Labour’s original proposal to help it pass through Parliament.
The letter, co-signed with Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp, raised concern over reports that the government was weighing an exemption for roughly two million migrants who arrived on work visas between 2021 and now from the proposed extension of the settlement qualifying period. Badenoch called such a carve-out a serious error, pointing to what she described as the Conservatives’ own past experience of allowing settlement too quickly, and argued five years was not long enough before someone could gain indefinite leave to remain.
She also argued that many migrants currently in low-paid, low-skilled roles could be replaced by economically inactive British citizens if the right opportunities were created, and said those who don’t make what she called a meaningful economic contribution over ten years should return home once their visas expire. Beyond that, she warned that granting settlement after only five years adds pressure to the welfare system, since indefinite leave to remain carries full benefit entitlements and typically opens the door to citizenship and therefore full benefit rights within a year, with no mechanism currently in the Immigration and Asylum Bill or existing law to restrict that.
Badenoch maintained that lengthening the qualifying period from five to ten years wouldn’t be retrospective, since a temporary work visa was never a guarantee of permanent settlement, and that government retains the right to set settlement rules for people already in the country. She offered Conservative backing if Labour brings forward its original autumn proposals unamended, framing the decision as a test of whether the party is serious about border control. The letter was also copied to Andy Burnham, described by Badenoch as the anticipated incoming prime minister, amid continuing debate over the UK’s immigration policy direction.
Tags: #Kemi Badenoch #Conservative Party #UK Immigration #Labour Government #Chris Philp #Andy Burnham,