Senior minister's U-turn to back immigration plan

The Energy Secretary has backed the Government's immigration reforms after repeatedly refusing to earlier this week.

Miatta Fahnbulleh apologised on Thursday for saying she would 'never lie' in a reference to an interview in which she refused 16 times to support Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's proposals.

Ms Mahmood has announced plans to extend the time foreign nationals have to wait before being granted Indefinite Leave to Remain. Her proposals to increase this period from five to up to 15 years have prompted a revolt among Labour MPs.

Ms Fahnbulleh became one of the highest-profile detractors after criticising the policy on her constituency website, claiming it threatened 'the process of building cohesion'.

On Thursday, she apologised for the remark about never lying and said she fully supported the migration reforms. 

She tweeted: 'I fully support our Home Secretary and the Government's position on migration reform. As I said earlier this week, it's absolutely right that people should have to make a contribution to this country in order to earn citizenship.'

It comes as Ms Fahnbulleh refused seven times on Wednesday to say if she backs a key part of Labour's planned immigration reforms. 

She repeatedly dodged questions about proposals by Ms Mahmood to make people wait longer for permanent residency in Britain. 

Speculation has mounted that Ms Mahmood's proposal to extend the five-year wait by up to 10 years for foreign care workers could be watered down to avoid a Labour rebellion after criticism from senior MPs. 

Ms Fahnbulleh and Angela Rayner both criticised the plan earlier this year when they were on the backbenches, with the now Energy Secretary attacking any attempt to 'prolong the time people have to wait for settlement' in a now-deleted online post.

Asked on Wednesday on Sky News if she now backed the policy, Ms Fahnbulleh repeatedly said she backed the need for wider reform of the system.

But she would not say she backed the specific policy, eventually snapping at presenter Sophy Ridge: 'Don't put words in my mouth.'

In response to one of the questions she said: 'We have got to reform our immigration system. 

'My view is that we need a system that is based on the principle of compassion [and] contribution. 

'So there is a package of reforms, the Home Secretary has been consulting on this, she is looking at the range of responses and she will come out with the measures that we take forward. 

'The key thing I would say is that no one can look at our immigration system, and I say this as someone that came to this country as a refugee, and not believe it is broken and not believe that we need to fundamentally reform it.'

She added: 'I support reforms that say that people have to contribute and make a contribution to this country in order to get citizenship.

'I 100 per cent back Shabana Mahmood and everything she is trying to do.'

On Tuesday, Ms Rayner sought to downplay reports of a Cabinet rift over Ms Mahmood's immigration plans, saying she was sure her colleague would 'land' on a policy that was fair to both taxpayers and migrants following a consultation.

But Downing Street has declined to rule out changes to the proposal, defending Ms Fahnbulleh's decision not to commit to it on TV.

Challenged over their comments, No 10 stressed that Ms Mahmood was 'carefully considering' more than 200,000 responses to a consultation before finalising the reforms.

Asked whether tweaks to the Home Secretary's initial revamp – including applying the policy retrospectively – could be ruled out, Andy Burnham's press secretary told reporters: 'We set out proposals for consultation. We've consulted on what the transition arrangement should look like (for) people already in the UK who have not received settled status.

'The Home Secretary is leading a thorough piece of work to ensure we get this right and have the right arrangements in place.'

He added: 'The Energy Secretary made clear she backs reforms and the work that Shabana is doing as Home Secretary.

'She was asked about specific elements of the proposals that are subject to the results of the consultation.

'You would not expect ministers to comment on elements subject to the results of the consultation.'