Amid discussion of his leadership from some Labour MPs, PM calls on party to abandon introspection and deliver change
Although the Sunday Times got an interview with Keir Starmer, there was more news in the Sun on Sunday’s interview with Shabana Mahmood. Here are the main lines. Mahmood was speaking to the paper’s political editor, Kate Ferguson.
Mahmood said that she wanted to impose new conditions on migrants who want indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the UK, requiring them to show that they are making a contribution to communities. She told the paper:
I am looking at how to make sure that settlement in our country – long term settlement, indefinite leave to remain – is linked not just to the job you are doing, the salary you get, the taxes you pay, [but] also the wider contribution you are making to our communities.
They didn’t just come to work – they settled, they made a contribution to the local community, they were volunteers, they got involved in local politics. They did more than simply work and earn a salary.
Mahmood said that the European convention on human rights and refugee conventions were being “used in a way that was never intended” and said she would propose reforms before Christmas. The Home Office is working on new guidance to the courts on how they should interprete two of the articles in the convention.
Mahmood said the policy of putting migrants in hotels had been a “total disaster for the country”.
She said her “jaw hit the floor” when she learned last week about the Home Office spending £600 on a taxi journey for a migrant with a GP appointment a long way from the hotel where they were staying. She ordered a review after a BBC investigation highlighted this.
She suggested that some of those who have been putting up St George’s flags or union jack flags around the country have the wrong motives. Asked about flags, she said:
I love the St George’s flag and I love the Union Jack. They are flags that I see myself reflected in.And where our flags are being used as a symbol of unity I’m all for it. I would like to see more of our flags actually on our civic institutions …
I think the thing that we have to be careful about is the motives of some – not all – but some of the people that are putting up the flags. They are speaking to nationalism. And I’m a patriot, not a nationalist.
Mahmood said that Margaret Thatcher was one of her political heroes. In a quickfire question round, asked to name her heroes, Mahmood said:
I have two women who I look up to for their strength and their steel, and that’s Benazir Bhutto and Margaret Thatcher.
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