The Labour Mayor of London hit out at the Reform UK leader following the unveiling of a new plan.
Nigel Farage has hit back at comments from Sadiq Khan (Image: Getty)
Nigel Farage has lashed out at Sir Sadiq Khan after vowing to axe the indefinite leave to remain for migrants. The Mayor of London suggested that it would impact thousands of people in the capital, and now Mr Farage has hit back. The Mayor of London said: “Thousands of Londoners have indefinite leave to remain. They have legal rights and are our friends, neighbours and colleagues, contributing hugely to our city. Threatening to deport people living and working here legally is unacceptable.”
But Reform UK leader Mr Farage said: “What about the ones that aren’t working? What about the ones that never have worked and never will work? What about having an honest debate about those we’ve let into this country? Many of whom are great people. Fine, we understand that. But too many of whom are not. We’ve totally, totally misunderstood what a work permit, what a work visa is.
“It’s been a back door to full-time settlement.” He added: “We will do battle with Mayor Khan in the 32 London boroughs that are up for election next May, and I’ll answer more directly questions from him when the time comes.”
Nigel Farage has vowed to scrap migrants’ indefinite leave to remain. (Image: Getty)
Reform’s policy chief Zia Yusuf wrote in The Telegraph: “We will abolish ILR altogether, including rescinding it retrospectively, and close all loopholes to ensure only UK citizens receive welfare or social housing.”
A spokesperson for the Government said: “People here illegally rightly do not get anything from our benefits system.
“Foreign nationals usually have to wait five years to claim universal credit and we’re looking at increasing this to 10 years.
“We inherited a broken welfare system and spiralling benefits bill.
“That’s why we’re taking action and reforming the system and have seen the proportion of universal credit payments to foreign nationals fall since last July.”
Migrants can currently apply for permanent residency in the UK after five years.
Sadiq Khan has suggested thousands in London alone would be impacted by the change. (Image: Getty)
Reform’s plan would force them to renew their visa every five years.
Applicants would have to meet certain criteria, including a higher salary threshold and better standard of English.
They would have to have lived in the UK for seven years, and there would be tighter restrictions on bringing spouses and children to the country.
Mr Yusuf added that his party’s proposals would “lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status in the UK, which will be done on a staggered and orderly basis to allow businesses to train British workers to replace them”.
