Inside Labour’s immigration feud

Anoosh Chakelian· Host0:00

[upbeat music] The New Statesman. As ministers and backbenchers criticize Shabana Mahmood's immigration plans, is Labour about to water them down? And what's behind the splits over the policy? This is Daily Politics from the New Statesman, and in today's episode, we go behind the scenes of Labour's battle over immigration reform. I'm Anoosh Chakelian, and I'm joined by our political editor, Alva Rey. Hi, Alva.

Alva (Ailbhe) Rea· Guest0:26

Hello. How are you doing?

Anoosh Chakelian· Host0:27

Yeah, all right, thank you. How are you?

Alva (Ailbhe) Rea· Guest0:28

Yeah. Good, thanks.

Anoosh Chakelian· Host0:29

So we spoke about this briefly, uh, in terms of Angela Rayner's comments. She called these plans un-British in an indirect way.

Alva (Ailbhe) Rea· Guest0:37

Mm.

Anoosh Chakelian· Host0:37

Um, let's just go through what the actual policy is. So the idea is that the model is moving to an earned settlement, uh, scheme, which will mean that the period of time to obtain permanent settlement here will double. Um, but it'll be faster for some people, high earners. Um, and it could take up to 20 years for others, people on benefits, et cetera.

Alva (Ailbhe) Rea· Guest0:57

Mm.

Anoosh Chakelian· Host0:58

Um, and the reason why Mahmood wants to bring these in is because of widespread anger over levels of migration over recent years, and also the feeling that there's an unfairness, particularly about the asylum system. Um, and so the argument from that perspective would be Labour has to do something to change this because in voters' minds, it is a high priority, and there is a general feeling that the system is unfair.

Alva (Ailbhe) Rea· Guest1:22

Mm. And I think that there's actually quite a lot of con- I mean, we're gonna come onto the lack of consensus.

Anoosh Chakelian· Host1:28

[laughs] Yeah.

Alva (Ailbhe) Rea· Guest1:28

[laughs] But I think that in broad