Dame Emily Thornberry [Laurie Noble]

FOR too long we have allowed the Right to own the debate on immigration. We’ve allowed them to say that everything wrong in life, whether that’s the housing crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, the employment crisis, is not because of structural issues like wealth inequality and the chronic underfunding of our public services, but because of immigration.

We’ve allowed them to demonise migrants and refugees. To cast them as the enemy. That was wrong. We should call out what they’re doing.

It was wrong not to be brave. We should make the positive argument for immigration. Our immigration system should be firm, decisions should be fast. But it must also be fair.

Our immigration rules are already tough. You must wait years for proper stability. Depending on the route in which you’ve come to the UK, you might not be allowed access to public funds, you might not be allowed to work.

People wait for years to restart their lives. Frozen.

That’s why Indefinite Leave to Remain is so important. Once you’ve got that stamped in your passport, you’ve got stability and security here in the UK. You have a home. You have a community. You have a stake in the country.

But by changing the rules, by moving the goalposts, by moving to an “Earned Settlement” model, we’re taking all that away.

It’s not fair to apply these new rules retrospectively. These are people who have played by the rules we’ve set, who have contributed to this country in sectors like healthcare. Why are we adding possibly decades to their waiting time? What are we trying to achieve?

Here in Islington, we are proud to be a Borough of Sanctuary. A community of 80 different languages all living on top of one another who get on, who look out for one another no matter where they’ve come from, what languages they speak, or the colour of their skin.

And we are worried about what these changes will mean for our friends and our neighbours.

The proposed Earned Settlement model will penalise those who, for whatever reason, have received benefits. Whether that’s a victim of domestic abuse being placed in temporary accommodation, a mother of a child in receipt of disability benefit, or a nurse working full-time who still can’t make ends meet.

It will disproportionately hit low-income families, and risks discriminating against women, or those with caring responsibilities, or those with illness or disability. And let’s be clear, it will hit children especially hard.

Half of all migrant children in this country already live in poverty – a shameful statistic.

But these proposed changes could prolong that poverty for up to 90,000 children in working migrant families.

It will mean forcing parents to choose between destitution, or being penalised, having their chances at Indefinite Leave to Remain put at risk, for accessing benefits.

I see the fear these proposals are causing, like the constituent I met at a recent surgery, living with a serious cancer diagnosis, who was forced to claim Universal Credit after becoming unable to work due to his illness, and who now faces having his chance at ILR delayed because of something entirely out of his control.

The government is currently consulting on these proposals.

I know that here in our community, we want them to think again. Because controlled immigration doesn’t have to mean cruel. It means being firm, fast, and fair.

Pulling ourselves together, not pushing us apart – for the sake of our economy and our future.

That’s always been the British way.

• Dame Emily Thornberry is Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury