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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has vowed reforms to migration law, so people must prove they are making a social contribution before they can settle in Britain.
In her first major interview since taking over the reins of the Home Office, Ms Mahmood signalled she believed migration “has been too high”.
Speaking to the Sun on Sunday ahead of Labour’s party conference in Liverpool, the Home Secretary added: “The pace of that migration has been very, very fast. I totally understand why people have concerns about it.”
She told the newspaper she wanted to tighten rules around claiming indefinite leave to remain, the status which grants legal migrants the ability to settle in the UK without the need to renew a visa every few years.
Ms Mahmood added: “We need legal migration, it is a good thing. We are a country that has always welcomed people who want to come and work here.
“But I think in addition to living and working here there is a bigger thing to do as well which is to make sure that people are making a contribution to their wider community and wider society.”
She went on to say that ministers are looking at how to make sure indefinite leave to remain “is linked not just to the job you are doing”, but also “the wider contribution you are making to our communities”.
The hint that Labour could change the rules for indefinite leave to remain comes after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK pledged to scrap the settled status for all non-EU migrants if it wins power.
Elsewhere in her Sun on Sunday interview, the Home Secretary branded the decision to house illegal migrants in hotels a “total disaster for the country”.
Securing the border is “fundamental to holding the country together”, she added.
Ms Mahmood went on: “I know if I’m not able to get this mess sorted out, then there will be more division in our country.
“The far right is on the rise. I think that’s a dangerous moment for the country.”
The Home Secretary also promised reforms to human rights law before Christmas in a bid to prevent its use in halting the deportation of illegal migrants.
The European Convention on Human Rights and other treaties have been “used in a way that was never intended”, Ms Mahmood said.