Make it harder to get British citizenship, urges Kemi Badenoch

Immigrants should only be able to apply for British citizenship after being in the UK for 15 years rather than the current six, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said.

Making one of her first policy announcements since becoming leader, Badenoch also said indefinite leave to remain – which paves the way for citizenship – should not be granted to those who have criminal records or who had claimed benefits or social housing.

Speaking to the BBC, she said citizenship was a privilege, not just a right and should be for those with a “meaningful connection to the UK”.

Labour minister Angela Eagle said “after 14 years of shameful Tory failure no one will take seriously anything they claim”.

Obtaining indefinite leave to remain (ILR) gives people the right to live, work and study in the UK.

It is usually possible for someone to apply for ILR if they have worked in the UK for five years, although it can be two or three years if they came to UK on particular visas.

A person can currently apply for British citizenship, 12 months after they have been granted indefinite leave to remain.

The Conservatives say the period before someone can apply for ILR should be extended from five to 10 years and people should then have to wait a further five years before seeking citizenship.

The party wants the government to adopt the changes, backdated to 2021, by amending its Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill due to be debated in Parliament next week.

Speaking to the BBC, Badenoch said the current rules had created a “conveyor belt” to citizenship for those who had just arrived in the country.

She argued too many people were getting citizenship through this route and that was “creating a strain on public services”.

“We need to make sure that people coming here have a real, meaningful connection to the UK, so no criminal records, they should be net contributors to the economy, not relying on benefits but people who care about our country and our communities.”

She said she believed the policy would bring numbers down but would not say by how much.

Last year, shortly after becoming leader, Badenoch said her party had got it “wrong” on immigration during its time in government, which saw net migration rise to a record high of 906,000.

She has said there should be a hard cap on migration but declined to say what the cap should be, arguing it would depend on the situation at any given time.

Asked if she was panicking because of the rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, Badenoch said her party “needed to rebuild trust with the public” and that it was natural for the public to look to “the protest party”.

Many people thought Kemi Badenoch would be waiting some time to unveil detailed policy – she talked about bringing forward values rather than polices.

But she says this is not some sign of panic – this is because the government is bringing forward an immigration bill next week, so it makes sense for the Conservatives to set out their alternative approach now.

But for some people it will seem like a reaction to what is clearly, at least in the opinion polls, the surge of Reform UK to the Conservative’s right.

Conservative MPs are definitely worried about Reform.

In a funny way they blame Labour because they say the Labour government is unpopular but it’s become unpopular too quickly for the public to be ready to forgive the Conservatives, so they’re turning to a third option instead.

That is one of the reasons that Kemi Badenoch feels she needs to come out so strongly on this issue which concerns so many Conservative voters now.