Time before applicants may qualify for indefinite leave to remain would double from five to 10 years. Migrants who are unemployed or in low-paid jobs will face being forced to leave the UK under plans being drawn up by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch. As she seeks both to win back votes from Reform UK and to revitalise the party after last year’s election defeat, Ms Badenoch has pledged to crack down on legal and illegal migration.

“The right to citizenship and permanent residency should only go to those who have demonstrated a real commitment to the UK. That's why we should double the length of time before people can qualify for indefinite leave to remain from five to 10 years,” Ms Badenoch said. Under the proposal, legal migrants applying for indefinite leave to remain must navigate much stricter criteria than they’re currently faced with if their application is to succeed.

They would have to have been “net contributors” to the British economy over the previous 10 years – up from five years at present. The tax they paid must have more than covered their and their children’s costs to the state. They would also have to have worked and not claimed benefits or used social housing in that decade. Illegal migrants would automatically be barred from claiming indefinite leave to remain even if they were legally recognised as refugees.

Asylum-seekers denied the right to remain indefinitely in the UK could potentially be returned to their home country if the situation there improved. Anyone whose visa expired after failing to secure indefinite leave to remain could also be ejected. “The Conservative Party is under new leadership. We’re going to tell the hard truths about immigration,” Ms Badenoch said. “The pace of immigration has been too quick and the numbers coming too high for meaningful integration. We need to slow down the track for citizenship. A UK passport should be a privilege, not an automatic right.

“The Border Security Bill will actually make it easier for illegal immigrants to stay in the UK, let alone legal migrants.”. The Conservative leader’s revised stance comes after she conceded in November her party had “got it wrong” on immigration. A day later, prime minister Keir Starmer accused the Tories of an “open borders experiment” following the release of figures showing net migration had soared in recent years.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill is expected to include new counterterrorism-style powers to target people smugglers, including the seizure of mobile phones and financial assets. The UK population is set to soar by nearly 5 million over the course of a decade, almost entirely because of net migration, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The population is projected to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032, up from 67.6 million in mid-2022.

Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said any migrant convicted of a criminal act or who breached their visa terms would be removed from the UK, saying: “If someone comes here to work and then doesn’t do so, or who comes to work and then says they need benefits, should have their work visa cancelled – and should then leave.”. Dame Angela Eagle, the minister for border security, said the Conservatives had “lost control of our borders” during their 14 years in power.