Burnham backs tougher UK immigration rules, says balance must be right

Andy Burnham has endorsed a harder line on UK immigration, backing Shabana Mahmood’s push to tighten settlement rules as Labour seeks to look tougher on migration without losing support from pro-immigration voters or business interests.

The Greater Manchester mayor and Labour’s candidate in the forthcoming Makerfield by-election said net migration "needs to fall further" and that the government must "get the balance right". He said he supported the "broad thrust" of Mahmood’s plans to make it harder for migrants to settle permanently in the UK, a sign of how centre-left politicians are recalibrating their message under pressure from Reform UK.

The political squeeze comes as the Office for National Statistics said long-term net migration fell to 171,000 in the year ending December 2025, down from 331,000 a year earlier. The ONS said the figure was the lowest outside the pandemic since 2012 and that the drop was mainly driven by lower non-EU immigration. It added that the level was last seen in early 2021, when the new immigration system was introduced and Covid-19 travel restrictions were still in place.

Mahmood has argued that the planned changes are fair and needed to avoid a "drain on our public finances". The Home Office has forecast that around 1.6 million people could settle between 2026 and 2030 if no changes are made, strengthening the government’s case for a wider overhaul of the settlement system, also known as indefinite leave to remain.

The consultation on the new "earned settlement" approach ran from 20 November 2025 to 12 February 2026 and focused on changes to the rules for permanent residence. The shift has exposed a familiar Labour dilemma: how to respond to public anxiety over immigration while protecting the party’s coalition of urban, professional and business-minded voters who see migration as economically necessary.

Makerfield has become a live test of that balancing act. Reform UK has selected Robert Kenyon, a self-employed plumber and former NHS technician who also served as an Army reservist, to challenge Burnham’s party in the by-election. With immigration still ranking high in voter concern even as official numbers fall sharply, Labour figures are being pushed to sound more restrictive while insisting they are not turning away from migration altogether. Burnham’s comments show that recalibration is already under way.