Kemi Badenoch's Radical Idea: Make Migrants Wait a Decade Before Accessing Benefits

The topic of migration is straightforward for them. Conservative Party We must address this issue in all its forms, whether legal or illegal.

To me, this boils down to fundamental fairness. In present-day Britain, it appears that those who cut corners, flout regulations, and break the rules benefit more from the system. enter our country unlawfully yet criticize our traditions and way of life .

And those among us who put in hard work and make ethical choices, aiming someday to provide a better future for our kids, end up bearing the cost.

For instance, the substantial amount of public funds in pounds being used to accommodate asylum seekers in hotels is widely recognized.

However, lesser-known is the detail that low-wage immigrants and refugees who reside here for half a decade become eligible for 'indefinite leave to remain'.

This enables them to enjoy the same advantages as British citizens, including access to social housing and Universal Credit.

Regardless of whether they've paid taxes or have merely relied on state support during those five years, they become automatically eligible to file such claims.

In my view, this is essentially unjust to all the diligent British individuals who have consistently contributed to the system—and I am committed to putting an end to it.

However, it probably comes as no shock that the Labour Government shows no such interest.

Last month, it rejected our Deportation Bill, which aimed to impose a stringent limit on the influx of new arrivals and extend the waiting period for immigrants to qualify for benefits from five to ten years.

The identical decade-long regulation would similarly applied for individuals wanting the benefit of British citizenship, increasing from the present requirement of five years.

To ensure that people coming here genuinely contribute to our society instead of exploiting it, the Bill proposed denying indefinite leave to remain to anyone who has received benefits.

This would have allowed the government to revoke settled status from individuals convicted of any offense, thereby stopping them from obtaining that valuable British passport.

In total, that bill aimed to safeguard our borders and ensure equity within our benefit system.

But thanks to Labour, it was shot down. To be honest, many – if not all – of the measures it contained would probably have ended up going the same way as the former government’s abandoned scheme to deport illegal immigrants to Rwanda.

This got mired in our legal system and was complicated by anonymous international judges applying the standards of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Several of our other potentially game-changing policies have also faltered in comparable manners.

When Mel Stride served as the Work and Pensions Secretary, he proposed changes to the welfare system designed to save £5 billion. However, these proposals also faced legal challenges which stalled their progress—providing Labour with an excuse to eventually drop them discreetly. This tactic has been termed "lawfare," referring to the employment of lawsuits for political ends.

Despite their lack of success, these legal activists impose significant costs and delays that can paralyze democracy. This situation is transforming us into a nation that lives in constant fear.

This needs to change. I've requested distinguished barrister and shadow attorney general Lord Wolfson KC, along with the shadow solicitor general Helen Grant, to head a commission aimed at determining conclusively whether the actions required—gaining control of our borders, safeguarding our welfare system, and restoring fairness—can be achieved while still being part of the European Convention on Human Rights.

They will uncover the details of how we ended up in this complex legal situation and the difficulties involved in finding a way out.

If they conclude that we can’t implement sensible policies to prioritize British citizens for social housing and limited public services, then I’ll realize we need to depart.

The commission's conclusions will assist me in developing a feasible strategy to extricate ourselves from the ECHR, all while considering the necessity to safeguard fundamental human rights.

The biggest threat we currently confront is permitting lawfare to render our nation unfair, unsafe, and undemocratic.

However, I am committed to ensuring that, with me at the helm, the Conservative Party will safeguard our principles, our democratic system, our nation – and most importantly, our citizens.

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