ISLINGTON South and Finsbury MP Dame Emily Thornberry has raised “concerns” over immigration reforms introduced by the Labour government.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood introduced new immigration rules last week, dubbed “earned settlement”, enforcing stricter laws for attaining citizenship.

Under the new laws, migrants will no longer be granted automatic settlement after five years of living in the UK.

Instead, a system has been proposed that is based on the individual’s earnings.

Dame Emily had been a vocal critic of the proposals when they were first announced earlier this year, and said this week that she felt retrospectively changing rules for those already living here was “not fair”.

She said: “I stood on a manifesto commitment to introduce a fair and properly managed immigration system.

“I am not against reforming the broken one we inherited from the Tories.

“But I do think we also need to make good on our promise to be fair, and I don’t believe retrospective changes are the right way to go about things.

“I told the government my concerns when the reforms were first floated, and I am raising them again now.”

Dame Emily told how many of her Islington South constituents are “really upset” by these changes.

She added: “To introduce new rules for them, to move the goalposts again, is simply not fair.

“They feel that they can’t start their lives here until they know for sure they are going to be able to stay, and that’s understandable. Now it looks like many in our community are going to have to wait another five years to be told that home isn’t going anywhere.”