Andy Burnham says judging migration levels is "difficult" as it must follow "gaps in the economy"

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is scheduled to brief MPs in the House of Commons on changes to indefinite leave to remain, the settlement route that can lead to permanent status. Her plan would raise the standard five-year wait to ten years and, for some lower-paid jobs such as care work, to fifteen. It remains unclear whether carers would get an exemption and whether the changes would operate retrospectively; senior figures, including Angela Rayner, have publicly objected to that retrospective approach. In an ITV interview, Andy Burnham said legal migration had fallen and that planned migration is meant to respond to economic shortfalls, which makes judging the overall level complicated; he also warned that a set figure could leave some sectors short of staff.