Labour's new visa rules put NHS at risk, warn nurses

Exclusive Fears that service could 'crumble' without overseas staff

- Josh Halliday North of England editor

The NHS and social care would "cease to function" under the government's new rules to be imposed on foreign staff, nursing leaders warned yesterday as hundreds of medics condemned the policy as "divisive and xenophobic".

In the most explicit attack yet on Labour's proposed restrictions on overseas workers, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) described the plan as "ignorant" and "pandering" to Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

Prof Nicola Ranger, the RCN general secretary, told the Guardian: "Health and care services would cease to function without migrant nursing staff. While other countries offer immediate paths to settlement for nurses, the UK is going in the opposite direction."

Labour is proposing to double the time overseas workers have to wait - from five to 10 years - before applying for indefinite leave to remain or claiming any kind of benefit, including tax-free childcare, disability living allowance and housing support.

The plans, outlined by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, at the Labour party conference last week, would also mean foreign workers having to volunteer in their communities and pass other existing tests to gain British citizenship.

The proposals were first outlined in the government's immigration white paper in May and are seen as a direct response to the rising electoral threat of Reform UK.