Shabana Mahmood to ban foreign criminals from settling in the UK

Foreign criminals face being booted out of the UK or left waiting longer to get settlement rights, under new plans to be announced by Shabana Mahmood. The Home Secretary will confirm migrants have to make National Insurance contributions, not claim any benefits, learn English to a "high" standard, have a "spotless" criminal record, and "give back" to their community to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR).

But some offenders convicted of more minor offences may not be automatically barred from getting ILR.

Instead they will be forced to wait longer.

Ms Mahmood is understood to want to set the bar "low" to prevent criminals from overseas claiming benefits or having access to social housing, but doesn't want people caught committing, for example a minor motoring offence, from being penalised.

Some offences will automatically rule people out, meaning they will have to repeatedly reapply for visas. In addition to the financial costs, the Home Office could also then refuse a visa request due to the criminal record.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "Labour are playing catch-up. Months ago, we put forward amendments in Parliament for tougher indefinite leave to remain rules - doubling the residency requirement for ILR to ten years, make ILR conditional on genuine contribution, blocking criminals, and barring access to benefits."

Ms Mahmood, signalling a tough new approach from Labour in a bid to see off the threat from Reform and the Conservatives, will tell party members "you won't always like what I do".

Millions of people feel things are "spinning out of control" because of successive governments' failure to slash migrant numbers, she will add.

The Home Secretary will warn that record numbers of arrivals over the past five years have left communities feeling unsafe in their own homes.

Ms Mahmood will tell Labour's party conference in Liverpool that many people feel the country is "spiralling out of control", adding that "patriotism, a force for good, is turning into something smaller, something more like ethno-nationalism".

Some 1,235,254 people moved to the UK in the 12 months to June 2024, while 496,536 emigrated.

This accounted for 98% of the UK's overall increase in population across this period.

The Office for National Statistics revealed the population grew by 755,254 in the year to June 2024, the second-highest year on record. The previous record was set a year before - 890,049.

Net migration hit a staggering record of 906,000 in the year to June 2023.

And Ms Mahmood is set to overhaul how migrants can qualify for settlement rights in the UK.

The Home Secretary said failing will mean "working people will turn away from us - the party that for over 100 years has been their party - and seek solace in the false promises of Farage".

In a personal speech, the new Home Secretary will draw on the experiences of her own parents, who moved to Birmingham from Kashmir in the 1960s.

In an interview with a Sunday newspaper, she said: "They didn't just come to work; they settled, they made a contribution to the local community, they were volunteers, they got involved in local politics," she said. "They did more than simply work and earn a salary."

She added: "I am looking at how to make sure that settlement in our country - long-term settlement, Indefinite Leave to Remain - is linked not just to the job you are doing, the salary you get, the taxes you pay, [but] also the wider contribution you are making to our communities."