Immigration has come back to bite the government big time. Shabana Mahmood’s sage campaign to set up Labour as the party of effective immigration control by making it much more difficult to get indefinite leave to remain apparently got official approval and certainly showed signs of electoral promise. But the Home Secretary’s plan seems to have been carefully sabotaged.

Keir Starmer was tellingly noncommittal about it this week, suggesting that the proposal to require ten years of reasonably well-behaved residence would be ditched – at least in favour of those already here and approaching the current five-year deadline. Reports on Friday indicated that some Labour MPs are considering revolting against the government and could force a symbolic parliamentary vote on the reforms in the months to come.

All this, it is pretty clear, shows signs of Angela Rayner’s influence. There is little love lost between her and the Home Secretary (whom she has previously accused of a ‘breach of trust’ for would-be immigrants already here). More to the point, such an exercise in devilment directed at an ally of Keir Starmer is a useful support for an eventual run against him for the leadership. 

However propitious for Angela, however, this is not good news for Labour. It is clear that a measure of the sort contemplated by Mahmood to crack down on indefinite leave to remain is........

© The Spectator