Politics LIVE: Unemployed, low-paid migrants would be kicked out of Britain in bid to cut drain on state, says Badenoch

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Politics LIVE: Unemployed, low-paid migrants would be kicked out of Britain in bid to cut drain on state, says Badenoch

Kemi Badenoch has vowed to remove unemployed or low-paid migrants from Britain in a bid to cut their net drain on the state.

Setting out her first real policy as Tory leader, Badenoch is proposing that legal migrants in the UK should only be allowed to apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) once they have been in the country for 10 years, double the current five-year threshold.

Under her plans, migrants would only be able to qualify for ILR if they had not claimed benefits or used social housing during their entire 10-year period in Britain.

They would also have to have been “net contributors” to the economy over that decade, meaning their salary and tax payments must be high enough to outweigh their costs to the state, including those of their children, other dependents, or any benefits they may have claimed.

The plan would mean most low-skilled foreign workers – including any on the minimum wage – would be excluded from claiming ILR.

Analysis by Karl Williams, from the Centre for Policy Studies think tank reveals that just five per cent of all visas in 2022-23 were given to high-skilled migrants who are likely to be net contributors to Britain’s economy.

And proposals to reform ILR have been made before – in December, the Adam Smith Institute’s Sam Bidwell called on Britain to triple the ILR threshold to 15 years, and put safeguards in place to ensure that “high-quality, compatible” migrants settle in the country.

“Our country is not a dormitory, it’s our home,” Badenoch said. “The right to citizenship and permanent residency should only go to those who have demonstrated a real commitment to the UK.”

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Ben Wallace issues scathing slap-down of Chagos ‘satellite communications’ claims – ‘Totally fabricated!’

Ben Wallace labelled the claims ‘total fiction from the pen of Cabinet office comms’

Former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has slapped down new claims the Chagos Islands surrender is being done to protect British satellite communications systems.

Last night, Bloomberg revealed that UK security officials have said the giveaway will help ensure that American and British military and diplomatic communications in the region can be securely controlled.

The officials said that Diego Garcia, the base set to be leased back from Mauritius under Labour’s deal, is a “key communications base in the southern hemisphere” and provides “huge operational range” over Asia, the Middle East and Africa, while staying out of reach of many adversaries.

If approved, a deal between the UK and Mauritius would see a buffer zone around Diego Garcia in which Britain would have final sign-off on the construction of any new tech that could threaten national security, the sources said.

But in a new rebuke to the rumoured multi-billion-pound giveaway, Wallace said: “This is a totally fabricated excuse by the Cabinet Office.

“The islands are far more important than just this, and the potential threat to our operations is a total fiction from the pen of Cabinet office comms – and no doubt… Lord Hermer.”