LONDON, United Kingdom — Leader of the UK Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, stated on Monday that immigrants arriving in Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically receive permanent residency, urging the Labour government to retain a proposed 10-year qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain.
Golden Info reports that Badenoch published a joint letter to the UK Home Secretary on her X handle, co-signed by Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp. The correspondence criticised efforts by Labour Party lawmakers to soften immigration reforms. “People who come to Britain on temporary work visas should not automatically be able to stay forever. This Labour government was right to make that harder. Now their MPs want them to u-turn. Conservatives will back Labour’s original plan to help get it through Parliament,” Badenoch said.
The letter addressed reports that the government is considering exempting approximately two million migrants who entered the country on work visas between 2021 and the present from the extended qualifying period. Badenoch argued against granting indefinite leave to remain after five years. “As Conservatives learned to our cost, five years is too short a time to obtain the indefinite right to remain in the UK,” the letter read.
Badenoch stated that temporary workers failing to make adequate economic contributions over a decade should return to their home countries. “Individuals who are not making a significant economic contribution over a ten-year period should not be allowed to stay indefinitely. Those not working, or working in low paid jobs, should be required to go home at the end of their temporary work visa,” she said.
The Conservative leader offered backing to pass the original proposals without amendments, noting that early permanent settlement entitles successful applicants to social benefits. “If you table the proposals set out last autumn in undiluted form, either in the Immigration Rules or as part of the Immigration and Asylum Bill, we will support them. In government we would of course go further but on this time-sensitive matter we make this offer to cooperate in the national interest,” she said.
The letter was copied to Andy Burnham, whom Badenoch identified as the anticipated incoming Prime Minister.