UK Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has urged the Labour government to hold firm on plans to toughen settlement rules for foreign workers, insisting that no immigrant arriving on a temporary work visa should expect to remain in Britain permanently.

In a strongly worded intervention published on her X account, Badenoch released a joint letter to the Home Secretary, co-signed by Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp. The letter backs Labour’s proposal to extend the qualifying period for indefinite leave to remain, ILR, from five to 10 years, and warns against any move to water down the reforms.

Badenoch said Labour was “right” to make it harder for temporary workers to stay, accusing some of the party’s own MPs of pushing for a U-turn. She pledged Conservative support in Parliament if ministers stick to the original plan, framing it as a test of Labour’s seriousness about controlling immigration and protecting the welfare system.

The letter raises alarm over reports that ministers are considering exempting around two million migrants who entered the UK on work visas from 2021 onwards from the tougher ILR rules. Badenoch called such an exemption “a grave mistake”, arguing that Britain had already “learned to our cost” that five years is too short a route to permanent settlement.

She contended that many migrants in low-paid, low-skilled roles could be replaced by some of the country’s millions of economically inactive citizens if the right incentives and opportunities were created. Those who do not make what she termed a “significant economic contribution” over a decade, she argued, should be required to leave when their visas expire.

Badenoch also highlighted the link between ILR and access to the welfare state. Successful applicants gain full benefit entitlements and can usually apply for British citizenship a year later, she noted, warning that this would make it “very difficult” to restrict support once people become citizens.

She stressed that extending the ILR qualifying period would not be a retrospective change, as temporary visas do not guarantee settlement. The government, she wrote, is “perfectly entitled” to revise the rules for those already in the country.

The letter was copied to Andy Burnham, described by Badenoch as the expected incoming prime minister, underlining the high political stakes surrounding the next phase of UK immigration policy.