Labour could water down tougher rules for migrants

A ROW over Labour's migration plans intensified yesterday as allies of Keir Starmer attacked Angela Rayner over her intervention on settlement rights.

- BY MICHAEL KNOWLES Home Affairs Editor

vessel arrives in Kent earlier this month as the migrant crisis continues

Immigration minister Mike Tapp, in a thinly veiled message to left-wing rebels, warned: "We said we'd put the country first before the election, that is what we are doing."

It came after Ms Rayner said it was "un-British" to force foreign nationals already living in Britain to wait longer for settlement rights, under reforms designed to limit the number of people entering the country.

Plans announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood state migrants must wait at least 10 years before applying for settlement rights.

Foreign nationals who arrived in the so-called "Boris Wave" face a 10 to 15-year wait to apply for indefinite leave to remain.

And migrants could be barred from claiming benefits unless they become British citizens.