The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has finally admitted that asylum hotels are a “total disaster” but insists that the UK still “needs migration”.
Ms Mahmood vowed to close all migrant hotels before the next election, pledging to curb migration and cut visas to countries that refuse to take back their national offenders.
She pledged for tighter rules around claiming indefinite leave to remain in the UK, as she pushes for migrants to show they are integrated and “contribute” to the UK through volunteering or charity work.
The Home Secretary said immigration “has been too high”, as she spoke ahead of the Labour Party Conference, which kicks off today.
She told The Sun: “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.”
Illustrating a change in policy, the Home Secretary plans to “look 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”.
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Shabana Mahmood said legal migration ‘is a good thing’
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PAMs Mahmood used her parents as an example, who were immigrants from Kashmir, India, and moved to Birmingham in the 1960s and 1970s.
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.
“They did more than simply work and earn a salary.”
Ms Mahmood stated that altering the law will help migrants integrate into society and show Britons they are making a contribution.
The Home Secretary also urged cops to “police our streets” rather than social media and promised to change the law if necessary.
She backed the rollout of ID cards, insisting “it is not about being a Stasi state” but about cracking down on illegal immigration and working illegally in the UK.
The petition against introducing digital ID cards has now surpassed 2.1million signatures, as unrest continues to grow.
Ms Mahmood noted that the “far-right is on the rise” and thinks it is “a dangerous moment for the country”.
Over 32,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year
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REUTERSThe Home Secretary said: “I know if I’m not able to get this mess sorted out, then there will be more division in our country.
“I think securing the border is fundamental to holding the country together.”
She defended the Government’s one-in, one-out deal with France, despite only a handful being returned so far.
Ms Mahmood said she is determined to “scale up” numbers returning under the deal, and is also “reviewing all of our deportation and removal arrangements” and having “intense discussions” with other countries.
