Home Secretary to “reset” laws so migrants must prove they “contribute” to British society to settle here

SHABANA Mahmood today vows to “reset” laws so migrants must prove their social worth before being allowed to settle in Britain.

In her first big interview since being made Home Secretary, she pledged to curb migration and cut visas to countries that refuse to take back their national offenders.

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She also branded migrant hotels a “total disaster for the country” and promised to shut them down before the next election.

Signalling a massive change of policy, Ms Mahmood said she wants to tighten rules around claiming Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK.

Under her plan, migrants must show they are integrated and “contribute” to the UK through things like volunteering for charities or local projects.

Speaking ahead of the Labour Party conference – which kicks off in Liverpool on Sunday – the Home Sec said immigration “has been too high”. 

She said: “The pace of that migration has been very, very fast. I totally understand why people have concerns about it.

“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.”

Signalling sweeping reforms, she added: “So 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.”

The Home Sec drew on the example of her own parents – immigrants who moved to Birmingham from Kashmir in the 1960s and 1970s.

“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.”

Changing the law will help migrants integrate and show British citizens they are making a contribution, Ms Mahmood said. 

In a wide-ranging interview, the new Home Secretary also:

:: Warned the ECHR and other refugee conventions have been “used in a way that was never intended” and promised reforms before Christmas 

:: Branded the policy of putting migrants in hotels a “total disaster for the country” and vowed to shut the down before the next election

:: Urged cops to “police our streets” rather than Twitter and promised to change the law if needed

:: Defended introducing ID cards insisting “it is not about being a Stasi state” but about cracking down on illegal immigration and fraud

Ms Mahmood, 45, was promoted to Home Secretary in the reshuffle earlier this month. She is the first Muslim woman to hold the post.

Known for her tough policies  – she promised to chemically castrate paedophiles while Justice Secretary –  she has been dubbed The Terminator in Westminster.

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But many think Shabana has the toughest gig in government.

Britain’s small boats crisis is spiralling, shattering public confidence in the ability of the government to control our borders.

Legal migration is at historic highs, with another 750,000 moving to the UK in the year ending in June 2024. 

Crimes like shoplifting and mobile phone snatching are up. 

Many Brits are angry. 

Some are protesting outside migrants hotels. Others are putting up union flags on lampposts  in an outpouring of frustration and national pride. 

Speaking in her office in her constituency of Birmingham Ladywood, Ms Mahmood said she understands the anger out there.

In a chilling warning, she said this Labour government must sort out Britain’s borders – or it will be the Far Right who benefit.

“I think securing the border is fundamental to holding the country together”,  she said.

“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.”

Ms Mahmood has only been Home Sec for a few weeks – but she has already been left furious at the way some migrants abuse the system to avoid deportation.

She said her “jaw hit the floor” when she learned that migrants were racking up £600 taxi fares – paid for by taxpayers – to travel to hospital appointments.

While she is alarmed at how the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Modern Slavery Act are being “abused” to thwart deportations. 

The ECHR is “being used in ways that were never intended” and her review into reforming how it is applied to UK law will come before Christmas. 

A similar review of the  Modern Slavery Act is underway and Ms Mahmood promised to “rewrite the law” if needed.

Britain will cut visas to countries who refuse to take their foreign offenders and illegal migrants back, the Home Sec also pledged.

“That is absolutely a road I am very willing to go down, because I think that’s fair”, Ms Mahmood said.

“I will be hard-nosed about that – when it comes to our relationships with other countries. They should take their citizens back.”

Britain has recently struck a one in one out deportation deal with France, but so far only a handful of migrants have been returned.

Meanwhile the boats keep turning up on the shores of Kent. Over 1,000 illegal immigrants have arrived in the UK in a single day earlier this month.

Ms Mahmood defended the deal, but said she is determined to “scale up” numbers returning under it.

She is also “reviewing all of our deportation and removal arrangements” and having “intense discussions” with other countries about sending illegal migrants back home.

Earlier this week, the PM Sir Keir Starmer admitted Labour had previously got it wrong on migration and “shied away” from the concerns of the British public.

Ms Mahmood agrees – saying there is no point “pretending it hasn’t been difficult for us”.

But she said the Labour government must grip the border crisis.

“That sense of fair rules that everyone plays by, that we all contribute, that’s not unique to any one community”, she said.

“That sense of playing by the rules is really fundamental to the way a lot of Labour voters think, millions of Labour  voters feel exactly the same way. 

“So whatever hesitation there has been before, it’s not needed.”