A Labour councillor and general election candidate who was born overseas has warned that doubling the length of time that migrants like her have to wait to apply for citizenship won’t work.
It came hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the policy as part of a raft of white paper measures aimed at curbing migration to the UK.
Dr Alex Bulat, Labour county councillor for St Ives South and Needingworth in Cambridgeshire, took aim at the policy on X, saying she still had her British citizenship letter (sent by then-Home Secretary Priti Patel) pinned on her wall.
Bulat, believed to be Labour’s first Romanian-born county councillor, suggested that the people behind the change didn’t understand the psychology of migrants like her.
“What people advising on this change probably don’t get is that people like me having to wait 10 years instead of five years (six in my case) to apply for citizenship will not make people already here more likely to leave.
“It might make people in certain sectors who are informed about citizenship before (academics, workers in multinationals etc) more likely to go to other countries that have more accessible permanent residency and citizenship processes.”
But for most people, she said, it would simply mean more fees and less security while they plow ahead with the process.
‘Island of strangers’ comment sparks fresh row
In his speech, Starmer said the UK risks becoming “an island of strangers”, and that high net migration had done “incalculable damage” to British society.
Bulat took aim at the phrasing, warning all it would do is shift the progressive vote to the Greens and Lib Dems, while making migrants feel less welcome.
READ MORE: Immigration white paper: Starmer has the authenticity issue Miliband once had
“I am not sure it is “persuading” Reform voters as why would you go for a lighter version of a more restrictive immigration policy instead of an even more restrictive one if you were supporting Reform.”
The clampdown has also seen backlash from trade unions, with Unison saying ahead of the speech that the NHS would have collapsed long ago without migrants, and the GMB union warning after that scrapping care visas could be “potentially catastrophic” for the NHS.
Meanwhile several Labour and former Labour MPs have condemned his language, warning it risks inflaming anti-migrant sentiment – with suspended Labour MP Zarah Sultana even comparing it to the language of Enoch Powell.
However, recent polling from the Good Growth Foundation, shared with LabourList, found that 54% of Britons, and 49% of 2024 Labour voters, believe legal immigration is too high.
Pollster Luke Tryl of More in Common said: “Recognising as he does that migration is part of our national story and rejecting ‘pulling up the drawbridge’, but insisisting more control is needed and we should have greater expectations on contribution/integration does imo a fairly good job of meeting median public opinion.”
Labour and the Home Office have been contacted for comment.
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