Chris Philp says the home secretary is giving in to ‘open-borders Labour left’ ahead of an announcement this afternoon The King’s Fund , a health thinktank, is warning that Shabana Mahmood is planning to tighten the residency rules for foreign workers when the number of overseas care workers being recruited is already on course to fall to 10,000 a year. And this is happening as vacancies in the sector increase, it says in its analysis . It explains: Overseas care worker recruitment is falling from its high point of 105,000 in 2023/24 to 30,000 in 2025/26, with it trending to fall to 10,000 in 2026/27. In 2025/26 there were 1.02 million filled direct care independent sector posts and 65,000 vacancies. Vacancy rates in the social care sector are above average when compared with others. Alongside a decline in the number of international recruits, the number of new domestic workers starters
Tories accuse Shabana Mahmood of ‘U-turn’ on indefinite leave to remain policy – UK politics live

Original reporting
The Guardian: read the full reportFollow this story
Earlier reports and follow-ups on the same developing story.
Related stories

Mahmood to set out changes to settlement rules for legal migrants
The home secretary will lay out a revised proposal for changing when migrants can claim permanent residency later.

Two economists studied California's billionaire tax. They reached wildly different conclusions
What happens in California could shape how America taxes the superrich. But will its billionaire tax fill state coffers — or drain them?

Government making up China policy as it goes along, say MPs
Commons committee says lack of coherent strategy is hampering business and leaving national security risks unaddressed The UK is making up policy on China “as it goes along” and risks having its strategy dictated by Washington or Beijing, a parliamentary report has concluded. An investigation by the Commons business, innovation, science and trade select committee said Labour’s failure to formulate a coherent strategy since 2024 “combined the worst of both worlds” for the UK in relation to China. Continue reading...

What Vance's midterm push reveals about his potential 2028 bid
Vance's delivery is different from the president's but his speeches contain plenty of MAGA DNA.

When it comes to election pressure, this year's Georgia or Michigan could be anywhere
The districts that will decide control of the House and Senate next year are spread across the country. Voting officials in those places may face scrutiny and pressure they've never experienced.

6 things to watch for on election night
Some of the key storylines to watch will center around various voters groups that have soured on President Trump during his second turn out.