Angela Rayner wanted cuts to the benefits migrants can claim as an alternative to Labour’s plans to cut the welfare budget for thousands of disabled people, a leaked memo suggests.
In what appears to be a briefing war by sources in the Treasury against the deputy prime minister, the revelations show that Ms Rayner was at odds with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The memo, which first appeared in the Daily Telegraph, shows that Ms Rayner wanted to restrict recently arrived legal migrants’ access to pensions and benefits, and reconsider whether they should pay more to access NHS services.
The memo read: “Migrants who have spent five to 10 years in the UK generally receive access to a broad range of welfare entitlements.
“Indefinite leave to remain in the UK confers access to core welfare entitlements such as Universal Credit, and 10 years of National Insurance contributions confers eligibility for some state pension provision.
“Those who arrived in the UK during the period of very high immigration in the past few years will become eligible for indefinite leave to remain over the course of this Parliament.”
It added: “The Spring Statement could announce a review of entitlements with a target saving to be delivered in time for the spending review or autumn Budget, and include Universal Credit and state pension entitlements.
“The review could also consider whether further rises in the immigration health surcharge should be implemented (currently set at £1,035 and raising [circa] £1.7 billion a year).
“DHSC [Department of Health and Social Care] figures show that this only just covers the estimated average annual cost of treating migrant patients.”
It follows a previous revelation from the same memo that Ms Rayner wanted the Treasury to consider a series of wealth taxes as an alternative to the £5bn cuts Ms Reeves has proposed on welfare.
It comes in the same week as sources in the government suggested Ms Rayner could lose her housing portfolio.
It follows suggestions that those on the left of the party might be coalescing around the deputy prime minister as an alternative to Sir Keir Starmer amid frustration over his economic policies and failure to take tougher action against Israel over its action in Gaza.
An ally of Ms Rayner told The Independent that the briefing on the wealth taxes was “helpful” because “at least with this, it’s exposed the fact that people are prepared to put forward more progressive policies than more austerity. It’s cracked the debate wide open at last”
The deputy prime minister has been notably absent in the past 10 days from defending Sir Keir’s hardline stance on immigration and his heavily criticised language, suggesting that the UK had become an “island of strangers’ because of rising migration.
The ally of Ms Rayner said: “She needs to distance herself from the McSweeney/Starmer project.”
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What does Angela Rayner’s leaked memo reveal about Labour’s plans?
