Politics Home Article | Angela Rayner Joins Fightback Against Government Immigration Reforms

Angela Rayner, February 2026 (Alamy)

4 min read25 min

Addressing a reception held by Labour soft left group Mainstream on Tuesday evening, Rayner said voters had been given the impression that Labour has “represented the establishment, not working people” and that “at worst, we became it”.

“The very survival of the Labour Party is at stake,” she warned a packed pub basement in Westminster.

“As a party and movement, we cannot hide. We cannot just go through the motions in the face of decline,” Rayner said.

“There is no safe ground for us, and we’re running out of time. The change that people so desperately wanted to see needs to be seen. It needs to be felt.”

The influential backbencher, widely seen as a potential successor to Keir Starmer, started her speech by telling the crowd: “I have a lot to say. I’ve been waiting a long time for this moment.” 

She also joked that she was “really pleased” the reception was being held in a pub that Labour MPs were allowed to enter – “we’ve been banned from a few”, she said.

Rayner went on specifically to criticise Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s plan to extend the automatic qualifying period for awarding Indefinite Leave to Remain from five to 10 years retroactively.

The change would “pull the rug” from migrants who have already arrived in the UK, and represent “not just bad policy but a breach of trust”, she said.

“We cannot talk about earning a settlement if we keep moving the goalposts,” she added. “It’s un-British.”

No primary legislation is required to implement the changes being proposed by the government, which means there is no automatic Commons vote on the proposals and no obvious crunch point for a rebellion.

If there are enough rebel MPs, however, there is a possibility they could organise to force a vote, though they acknowledge that this would be difficult.

Tony Vaughan MP, from the 2024 intake, led more than 100 Labour colleagues in signing a private letter to the government urging it to rethink the tightening of immigration rules.

PoliticsHome understands that he is holding a strategy meeting today for Labour MPs concerned about the plans for earned settled status and refugees.

Vaughan also spoke at the Mainstream reception, telling attendees that Mahmood’s reforms were not informed by Labour values of community, solidarity, internationalism and social justice.

“The idea that mere financial contribution is the beginning and end of what we think qualifies somebody to belong in this society is totally wrong,” he said.

“We have to ensure that as a political movement, in every policy debate, we fight not just to win the argument but ultimately to define the terms and the boundaries of the debate before the argument even starts.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, another figure on the party’s soft left who is touted as a possible successor to Starmer despite not being an MP, today told the BBC that Labour “would always do well to listen to what Angela has got to say”.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, denied in response to Rayner’s comment that the plans for immigration reform were “un-British”.

He told Times Radio: “I don’t think that the changes Shabana Mahmood has announced are un-British. I think what they are doing is trying to strike fairness and a balance between, in the first instance, control of our borders and also people who are here still, of course, having the opportunity then to gain a settled status, but also being fair to everybody.”

The Home Secretary doubled down on the reforms in a speech last week, warning Labour MPs that the current asylum system is “eroding trust” with voters, and arguing that restoring order at the borders is necessary, “not a betrayal” of Labour values. 

“Hard-working people across this country engage in the daily struggle to make ends meet.

“They see a state that they pay taxes towards, yet it is unable to stop the flow of dinghies across the channel. They see a state that is paying billions towards hotels. It doesn’t look fair because it’s not fair, and it erodes their trust in government,” she said.

One attendee of the Mainstream event last night said Rayner was “here for nominations”, referring to the 81 MP nominations any leadership challenger or candidate would have to secure. 

Another warned PoliticsHome against interpreting Mainstream’s invitation to Rayner as a leadership endorsement by the organisation, which is also seen as close to Burnham.

Rayner resigned from cabinet in September after being found to have breached the ministerial code over unpaid stamp duty.

There is a feeling among Labour MPs that it will be very difficult for her to stand as a leadership candidate as long as the HMRC investigation into her tax affairs is ongoing.