Labour MP Fleur Anderson says Andy Burnham should rethink Labour’s controversial immigration reforms

Fleur Anderson MP has said that Andy Burnham must review Labour’s controversial immigration reforms if he becomes party leader.

While out campaigning in Makerfield, Anderson told Left Foot Forward that overseas care workers should be able get visas and people should not be forced to wait longer for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

This comes after Keir Starmer’s government closed the overseas care worker visa route to new applicants last July, and increased the qualifying period for ILR from five to at least ten years.

“Care workers should be able to get visas and I think that suddenly people who were on the trajectory to nearly get that leave to remain and then say it’s 10 years, those things I’m really looking at,” she said. 

The Labour MP for Putney said she had been talking to the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood about these issues, and that they are policies Burnham should revisit. 

She also argued that Burnham’s pledge to fix social care cannot be done without sorting out social care visas. 

“Andy’s talked about sorting out the social care system, we can’t really sort that out while we don’t have the workforce to do it and I’ve talked to loads of care homes in my constituency and it’s having a huge impact,” she said. 

Anderson said that welfare and immigration policies “are really dividing lines between us and Reform”. 

She added: “He’s taken the fight to Reform here [in Makerfield] and I think he’s winning, that’s what we want to do across the country”. 

Asked about Burnham’s comments saying he will look at cutting the welfare bill to fund defence, Anderson said “We cannot go on on that trajectory, we need to look at the balancing of the welfare bill.”

Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward