Burnham Backs the Immigration Bill as 80 MPs Press Him to Soften It
The government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill was debated in the Commons this afternoon, with the crucial vote expected late tonight, and it has become the first test of Andy Burnham’s incoming leadership. Nearly eighty Labour MPs signed a letter urging the prime minister-in-waiting to dilute the reforms, but Burnham is expected to back the Bill, which would double the qualifying period for permanent settlement to ten years, require asylum seekers to repay some accommodation costs, and curb the use of human-rights law in deportation cases.
The choice on the Bill defines the government Burnham is about to lead. His allies frame it as an asylum system “both compassionate and credible”, tackling illegal crossings while protecting safe routes; his party’s left calls the hard line cruel and a capitulation to Reform. That Burnham is siding with the outgoing home secretary rather than the eighty signatories, before he has even taken office, is a signal that he intends to govern from the centre on immigration and hold the line the outgoing government drew. The rebellion, once billed as his first crisis, now looks likelier to produce abstentions than defeat, but the scale of any revolt tonight will measure how much room he has. The result will not be known until the late division, and lands as he prepares for a coronation on Friday. Watch the size of any Labour rebellion, whether ministers offer concessions, and how the vote shapes his opening days.