The true cost of Labour's migration dithering: At least 200,000 are given the right to remain since crackdown promise, official figures show

Thousands of migrants are settling permanently in Britain every week while Labour bickers over a proposed crackdown.

More than 200,000 people have been granted indefinite leave to remain – entitling them to lifetime benefits, NHS care and social housing – since ministers proposed tough restrictions last year.

Yet the plan is still up in the air following a backlash led by Angela Rayner and trade unions, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood recently signalling that she may have to water it down.  

In the meantime, every week at least 5,000 more people who have lived here for five years – having legally arrived on visas – gain settlement.

The numbers are set to rise even further in the coming months as those who arrived in an unprecedented immigration surge following the pandemic gain the right to claim indefinite leave to remain.

Last night, Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, told the Daily Mail: 'Every single day, hundreds of mainly low-wage or no-wage immigrants get the right to stay here permanently and claim benefits.

'Yet Shabana Mahmood continues to refuse to implement her own indefinite leave to remain changes to stop this – which she herself admits are needed to save £10billion.

'Why is she delaying? It's because she's scared of Angela Rayner and the Left of the Labour Party, and she hasn't got the courage to implement her own plans. 

'The Government is on the verge of capitulating, letting hundreds of thousands of low-wage and no-wage migrants stay forever.'

Reform UK home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf said Ms Mahmood had 'capitulated to Labour's open-borders zealots.

He added: 'Labour's internal bickering means thousands more will get indefinite leave to remain and unfettered access to our welfare system, all because Andy Burnham cannot control Rayner or his backbenchers.'

Migrants who have lived and worked in the UK for five years can claim indefinite leave to remain (ILR), giving them the right to stay as long as they like, apply for benefits and then gain British citizenship just a year later. 

Last May, when Yvette Cooper was home secretary, the Government proposed 'earned settlement', which would double the qualifying period to ten years because of the large numbers of people soon to get indefinite leave to remain.

Its Immigration White Paper warned: 'More people are likely to become eligible for settlement and then citizenship over the next few years as a result of the extremely high level of net migration between 2019 and 2024.'

Then last November, Ms Mahmood made it clear that she wanted the more strict rules to apply retrospectively. She warned that, without reform, 1.6million people would be entitled to settle between 2026 and 2030.

In a speech this year she said the 'lifetime cost to the taxpayer' of the cohort, which she said included many 'low-skilled workers and their dependents', would be £10billion.

It sparked a backlash, with Labour MPs accusing her of 'moving the goalposts' for people already in the UK. 

While she was out of Government, Ms Rayner called the retrospective nature of the plan 'un-British' and a 'breach of trust'. Just last month, despite returning to the collective responsibility of the Cabinet, she stood by her criticism.

Britain's biggest trade union Unison wants care workers to be exempted from the proposed rules, and its general secretary Andrea Egan even claimed: 'Shabana Mahmood's proposals have fuelled the far-Right.'

Then the Home Secretary hinted at a climbdown, saying: 'We will come to a position that balances fairness for those who came here legally and fairness to British citizens.'

Latest official figures show that 199,628 people were granted settlement in the 12 months to June, beginning immediately after the White Paper's call for action.

If grants have continued at the same rate it would mean another 5,675 settling every week, and well over 200,000 gaining indefinite leave to remain since Ms Mahmood's detailed plan was announced in November.

The pressure group MigrationWatch UK estimates 225,000 qualified for indefinite leave to remain in the past 11 months. 

Chairman Alp Mehmet asked of Andy Burnham: 'Will you have the courage to back your Home Secretary and extend the ILR qualifying period or will you bottle it and defy public opinion?'

The consultation on the proposal, which received 200,000 responses, closed in February, but the Home Office has not responded. Immigration rules were updated last week with no mention of ILR. 

The Home Office said: 'We are considering responses to our consultation on elements of these reforms.'