Shabana Mahmood will set out a series of conditions for migrants to earn indefinite leave to remain in the UK, as part of a move to ‘keep the country together’
Helena Vesty NHS, social care and patients reporter and Katy Hallam
23:02, 28 Sep 2025
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood leaves 10 Downing Street(Image: PA Wire)
Legal migrants will need to demonstrate their contribution to society in order to secure permanent residency rights, according to new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s latest announcement.
Tomorrow (September 29), the Home Secretary will outline a range of requirements for obtaining “indefinite leave to remain”.
Permanent residency could hinge on maintaining employment, paying National Insurance contributions, avoiding benefit claims, achieving proficient English language skills, maintaining a clean criminal record, and contributing to local communities through activities such as voluntary work.
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Ms Mahmood is anticipated to detail these proposed modifications during her inaugural address to Labour Party Conference, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Labour confirms that a consultation on these suggestions will commence later this year.
The administration is promoting this initiative as a ‘significant departure from current arrangements’, stating ‘this creates a clear distinction between the government and Reform – whose divisive approach to indefinite leave to remain would compel long-term residents of decades to depart the country, separating families’.
The government notes that presently, “indefinite leave to remain” is frequently granted automatically after five years once basic criteria are satisfied.
The Immigration White Paper, released in May, revealed this timeframe would be extended to a minimum of ten years.
Permanent settlement must subsequently be merited, according to the Home Department.
Certain individuals, depending on their contributions or expertise, might qualify for earlier settlement.
Others, who have contributed less significantly, will only secure leave to remain at a later stage, or potentially not at all, the government has indicated.
This declaration will arrive during the midpoint of Labour’s yearly conference, where the administration is outlining its delivery of a ‘national renewal’ programme, designed to improve conditions for working people.
Labour maintains it is determined to ‘dismiss the quick fix solutions presented by Reform and the Tories, who seek to fragment the nation and steer Britain back towards a path of deterioration’.
Ms Mahmood will contend in her address that her ‘firm stance on secure borders, equitable migration and safe streets are vital elements of an “open, generous, tolerant” nation’, Labour has stated. She will caution party members that “you won’t always like what I do”.
However, whilst she will serve as a “tough home secretary”, she will simultaneously be a “tough Labour Home Secretary, fighting for a vision of this country that is distinctly our own”, the government has disclosed.
Ms Mahmood will utilise the speech to assert that the previous Conservative administration ‘lost command of our borders, conducted a failed open border experiment on migration, and left communities feeling vulnerable on their own streets’.
She is anticipated to speak of her concern that, consequently, many in this nation feel circumstances are “spinning out of control”, and will express her worry that “patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller, something more like ethno-nationalism.”
She will then present her role as part of a battle to “keep the country together” and will caution that if the government fails, “working people will turn away from us – the party that for over a hundred years has been their party – and seek solace in the false promises of Farage.”
In a heartfelt address, Ms Mahmood will reflect on her parents’ journey to this nation, and explain why migrant acceptance hinges on their contributions to local neighbourhoods.
The Home Secretary will discuss her own encounters as a shoplifting victim, whilst serving customers at her family’s local shop during childhood, and how this motivated her commitment to tackling street-level criminality, the government has revealed.
Additionally in tomorrow’s address, Mahmood will unveil a fresh ‘winter of action’ targeting shoplifting and antisocial conduct throughout retailers’ peak trading period.
This initiative will witness police forces nationwide collaborating with local enterprises, targeting hundreds of sites, the government has confirmed.
Labour states this builds upon the achievements of the ‘summer of action’ from earlier this year, which delivered a clampdown on street-level offending across 600 locations nationwide.
This resulted in increased police visibility, expanded covert operations, additional penalties, protective measures and detentions, according to government figures.