Shabana Mahmood could be facing a Labour rebellion against her controversial migration reforms as MPs seek to force a vote in the Commons on the plans.
The home secretary has laid out proposals to double the amount of time for migrants to be granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK from five to 10 years.
Former deputy prime minister and rumoured leadership contender Angela Rayner has been among the Labour MPs who have criticised the plans.
Ms Rayner told an event earlier this week the changes to indefinite leave to remain for people already living in the UK would be a “breach of trust”.
Labour MPs now intend to invoke parliamentary procedures to force a vote on the issue, the BBC reported, but the Home Office said the changes do not require legislation.
Though the vote would not be binding, it could threaten to further expose deepening cracks within the already fractured Labour Party.
Ms Rayner spoke at the same event as Folkestone MP Tony Vaughan on Tuesday, who has co-ordinated a letter signed by more than 100 Labour MPs urging the government to rethink the proposals.
He told the broadcaster that MPs’ concerns were “fundamental” and urged the government not to go ahead with the changes.
One MP said the reforms need to be “binned” while another said it was wrong to “renege on promises” made to people who have “uprooted their lives” to come to the UK.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “As the Home Secretary said in her speech at the IPPR, it is right that we address the considerable burden that settlement poses on taxpayers, communities, and public services.
“The government’s position has not changed – we will double the route to settlement from five to ten years for most migrants.
“We are also tackling the cost-of-living crisis head on and our landmark Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by the end of this parliament.”
The government was forced to insist its “position has not changed” on immigration reform on Wednesday, after Downing Street earlier refused to commit to proposals to toughen criteria for migrants to gain permanent residency following criticism from Ms Rayner.
No 10 appeared to signal an openness to watering down Ms Mahmood’s plans, defending efforts to make the immigration system “fair” while declining to get ahead of a consultation on the measures.
But in a later statement, a government spokesperson said: “The government’s position has not changed.”
In her speech at the event held by campaign group Mainstream, Ms Rayner also said the party has come to represent “the establishment, not working people” and called for a change of course.
She told the event that Labour is “running out of time” to deliver change and cannot “go through the motions in the face of decline”.
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