A ROW erupted last night after PM Sir Keir Starmer branded Nigel Farage’s migration plans as “racist” — only for his own Home Secretary to pledge a similar crackdown.
Foreigners on benefits risk being deported under proposals to be unveiled by Shabana Mahmood.
She will use her Labour conference speech to vow to deny permanent residency to migrants without a job, a clean criminal record, a good grasp of the English language or history of community work.
Setting out her stall on borders and boats, the no-nonsense Cabinet Minister will tell left-wing party members in Liverpool: “You won’t always like what I do.”
Immigration has become the crucial battleground as Labour tries to halt Reform’s charge up the polls.
Sir Keir yesterday ramped up his attacks on Mr Farage by branding his pledge to scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR) as “racist” and “immoral”.
Labour’s message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or Labour will call you racist.
Zia Yusuf
He told the BBC: “It is one thing to say we are going to remove illegal migrants, people who have no right to be here. I’m up for that.
“It is a completely different thing to say we are going to reach in to people who are lawfully here and start removing them.
“They are our neighbours. They are people who work in our economy. They are part of who we are. It will rip this country apart.”
Pressed directly, he said: “Well, I do think that is a racist policy.”
It is understood Sir Keir made the remark off the cuff rather than preparing it in advance.
Mr Farage last night said that the reason Sir Keir was attacking him was Reform’s mammoth poll lead, which puts them on course to form the next government.
His ally, Zia Yusuf, added: “Labour’s message to the country is clear: pay hundreds of billions for foreign nationals to live off the state forever, or Labour will call you racist.”
Mr Farage last week said he would replace the ILR scheme with rolling five-year visas.
Under a Reform government — which is currently odds on — those already granted permanent residency could be kicked out if they cannot support themselves.
Labour sources say Ms Mahmood’s plan is less draconian as she will not strip ILR from those who currently have it.
In most cases, migrants can access the majority of benefits such as Universal Credit and Housing and Child Benefit only once they have ILR status.
About 4.5million have “no recourse to public funds” but a small number — including refugees — receive welfare on grounds they risk destitution.
Sir Keir with Lady Starmer in Liverpool[/caption]
The PM pledged to do ‘whatever is necessary’ to get a grip on borders[/caption]
These will probably be the target of the Home Secretary’s crackdown.
While migrants would still be eligible to claim handouts once granted the permanent status, she wants to screen out likely scroungers.
Ms Mahmood will today vow to be a “tough Home Secretary” and tell members that a failure to tackle the migration crisis will drive the party’s traditional working-class base to “seek solace in the false promises of Farage”.
And she will declare: “Patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller, something more like ethno-nationalism.”
Another poll yesterday showed Mr Farage continuing to steal a march on Downing Street.
The survey of almost 20,000 people by think tank More in Common said Reform UK would win 373 seats if an election were held tomorrow — handing the party boss a Commons majority of 96, bigger than Boris Johnson’s 2019 landslide.
This is the same Labour government that scrapped the Rwanda deterrent and then lost control of our borders.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp
Labour would crash to just 90 seats — the party’s worst result since 1931 — with most of the Cabinet, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, being kicked out.
The Tories would slump to 41 MPs, pushed into fourth place behind the Lib Dems on 69.
With immigration topping voter concerns, the PM — in Liverpool yesterday with wife Lady Starmer — pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to get a grip on borders.
He promised faster asylum decisions, an end to taxpayer-funded perks, such as taxis to GP appointments, and new digital ID cards to get a grip on illegal working.
He said: “We’ve got to process the claims. Where we process claims and people have found that they’ve got no right to be here, we’re returning them to the country more than ever before.”
And on plans to end the use of hotels to hold asylum seekers by 2029, he said: “I’d like to bring that forward.”
On the taxis scandal, he said: “It shouldn’t be happening.
‘Playing catch-up’
“We will stop it immediately. Well, as soon as we can, but we will stop it. It’s not fair. I completely understand that, and it shouldn’t be happening.”
But the Tories last night accused Labour of “playing catch-up”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Months ago, we put forward amendments in parliament for tougher indefinite leave to remain rules — doubling the residency requirement for ILR to ten years, making ILR conditional on genuine contribution, blocking criminals, and barring access to benefits.
“This is the same Labour government that scrapped the Rwanda deterrent and then lost control of our borders.”
Meanwhile, a child migrant has died after falling off an overcrowded small boat in the Channel.
Cécile Gressier, prosecutor in the French port town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, said her body had washed up on nearby Écault beach.
Emergency services said 48 other migrants who were on the same boat were rescued after falling into the sea — before the dinghy “continued on to England” with about 50 still on board.
The latest tragedy means that at least 21 people have died this year attempting to reach Britain from France on a small boat.
Despite the risks, more than 32,000 illegal migrants have crossed so far this year.
Meanwhile, 125 crossed the Channel on a boat on Saturday — the highest number on record for a single vessel. It broke the previous record from August, of 106 in one dinghy.
Sir Keir and France President Emmanuel Macron have vowed greater co-operation to beat the people smugglers.
