Burnham urged to ditch Mahmood’s migrant settlement plans to stop Labour being ‘imitation’ of Reform – UK politics live

The former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe has died aged ۷۸, her management has said. Kevin Rawlinson has the story.

Good morning. Even the BBC has (almost) given up describing Andy Burnham as the person who is likely, or almost certain, to become the next PM. As of last night, it is now, barring something so unexpected it would be in the act of God category, a done deal. Labour published the names of the MPs who have already nominated Burnham, and he has got ۳۲۲ nominations. There are only ۸۱ Labour MPs left who have not nominated anyone. By coincidence (or not?), ۸۱ is exactly the number of names a rival candidate would need to stand. But in Labour politics the outgoing leader does not nominate a successor, and so in practice Burnham has already cleared the threshold. It’s wrapped up; he is the next leader and PM.

Currently, Burnham has strong support from all wings of the party. Leftwingers and Blairites seem equally enthusiastic. Unfortunately for Burnham, that is unlikely to last.

Last night, as Pippa Crerar reports, Burnham made an appeal to the left by saying Labour “didn’t get it right” with its initial response to Israel’s assault on Gaza after the Hamas attack on ۷ October ۲۰۲۳. Labour had to “do better”, he said.

Leftwingers who are not in the Labour party have criticised Burnham overnight for not going further and describing Israel’s conduct as genocide.

Today Burnham is facing a further challenge from the left. As Richard Vaughan, Kitty Donaldson and Caroline Wheeler report in a story for the i, almost ۸۰ Labour MPs have signed a letter to Burnham complaining that the immigration policies being implemented by Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, risk Labour being seen “as a pale imitation of Reform [UK]”. Patrick Maguire from the Times has posted the full text of the letter on social media.

The MPs are particularly critical of Mahmood’s plan to make migrants already in the country wait much longer before they can qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Currently people normally have to wait five years, but Mahmood wants to make ۱۰ years the norm, with some groups having to wait even longer.

In their letter, the MPs say:

After Reform’s “Boris wave” rhetoric, we decided to fight on Reform’s territory. Targeting a group of migrants that followed the rules, and applying this retrospectively, does not pass the fairness test for a compassionate but firm system. We do not recall being asked on the doorstep to make it harder for migrant workers to settle in the UK. Yet we are expending political capital, huge Home Office resource, and losing progressive voters on an indefinite leave to remain reform which few really understand or want. People in Makerfield talked about irregular migration, not making it harder for nurses and care workers to settle here. With a ۱۰-۲۰ year settlement period, the UK would be an international outlier – weakening our soft power and our appeal as a place to study, invest, build a life and form relationships.

It would weaken our communities and undermine our own strategies on child poverty, violence against women and girls, and homelessness. And the proposals would cost the state billions. This kind of reactive policy making is anathema to who we are, what we stand for, and how we should do politics.

The letter implies that Burnham should move Mahmood from the Home Office. But during the Makerfield byelection campaign Burnham broadly supported what Mahmood is doing – even though last year, when the ILR plans were first announced, he said he had “a concern about leaving people without the ability to settle, one of the concerns being if there is a need to constantly check up on the status of countries where people have come from, that might limit the ability of the Home Office to deal with the backlog”.

There are plenty of other stories around today about the challenges facing Burnham. I will post about them soon.

And Reform UK remains under pressure over its finances. Here is our latest story by Anna Isaac.

Here is the agenda for the day.

۱۰am: Karl Turner, the suspended Labour MP, hosts an LBC phone-in, standing in for James O’Brien.

۱۱am: Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, gives a speech on rent controls.

۱۱.۳۰am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

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