Burnham urged to ditch Mahmood’s migrant settlement plans to stop Labour being ‘imitation’ of Reform – UK politics live

Good morning. Even the BBC has (almost) given up describing Andy Burnham as the person who is likely, or almost certain, to become the next PM. As of last night, it is now, barring something so unexpected it would be in the act of God category, it is a done deal. Labour published the names of the MPs who have already nominated Burnham, and he has got 322 nominations. There are only 81 Labour MPs left who have not nominated. By coincidence (or not?), 81 is exactly the number of names a rival candidate would need to stand. But in Labour politics the outgoing leader does not nominate a successor, and so in practice Burnham has already cleared the threshold. It’s done; he is the next leader and PM. Currently, Burnham has strong support from all wings of the party. Leftwingers and Blairites seem equally enthusiastic. Unfortunately for Burnham, that is unlikely to last. Last night, as Pippa Crerar reports, Burnham made an appeal to the left by saying Labour “didn’t get it right” with its initial response to Israel’s assault on Gaza after the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023. Labour had to “do better”, he said. Andy Burnham apologises for Labour’s stance on Gaza and says it ‘didn’t get it right’ Read more Leftwingers who are not in the Labour party have criticised Burnham overnight for not going further and describing Israel’s conduct as genocide. Today Burnham is facing a further challenge from the left. As Richard Vaughan, Kitty Donaldson and Caroline Wheeler report in a story for the i , almost 80 Labour MPs have signed a letter to Burnham complaining that the immigration policies being implemented by Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, risks Labour being seen “as a pale imitation of Reform”. Patrick Maguire from the Times has posted the full text of the letter on social media . The MPs are particularly critical of Mahmood’s plan to make migrants already in the country wait much longer before they can qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR). Currently people normally have to wait five years, but Mahmood wants to make 10 years the norm, with some groups having to wait even longer. In their letter, the MPs say: double quotation mark After Reform’s “Boris wave” rhetoric, we decided to fight on Reform’s territory. Targeting a group of migrants that followed the rules, and applying this retrospectively, does not pass the fairness test for a compassionate but firm system. We do not recall being asked on the doorstep to make it harder for migrant workers to settle in the UK. Yet we are expending political capital, huge Home Office resource, and losing progressive voters on an indefinite leave to remain reform which few really understand or want. People in Makerfield talked about irregular migration, not making it harder for nurses and care workers to settle here. With a 10-20 year settlement period, the UK would be an international outlier - weakening our soft power and our appeal as a place to study, invest, build a life and form relationships. It woul