Cat Neilan

Care workers lobby Parliament - UNISON National Hundreds of overseas staff working in social care and the NHS travelled to Westminster today to lobby MPs over plans to restrict visa rules for care workers

Here is short article on the UNISON website

www.unison.org.uk/news/article...

As I was saying. You cannot make policy without the support of MPs and you can’t expect the support of MPs when your publicly declared strategy is “antagonise people like you and the people who voted for you”

bsky.app/profile/catn...

Also the farming IHT U-turn happened without people particularly going public. Lots can be achieved behind closed doors

Indefinite Leave to Remain - Hansard - UK Parliament Hansard record of the item : 'Indefinite Leave to Remain' on Monday 2 February 2026.

Very but it's always difficult to put your head above the parapet (ministers would have to quit). Obviously I did ask.

Some names in the piece, lots in this debate share.google/bODQWpc9WzOZ...

Worth noting the welfare rebels didn't reveal themselves until late in the day

As the thread (and article) makes clear, opposition has been brewing for a while.

It's true that they sense an opportunity to change No 10's thinking post Morgan/Gorton, but it would be wrong to suggest these MPs are *solely* motivated by the polls

Same, although she's not the person leading the charge currently

I can imagine Rayner wheeling herself out to cut a compromise where the ILR changes only apply to new arrivals. Which I'd still regard as detestable, but which I could also see possibly buying off some dissenters primarily motivated by "the doorstep" or the unfairness (to existing migrants) argument

A rebellion of this size means Labour would be relying on Tory and Reform support for Starmer and Mahmood's reactionary policy

Ramsay McStarmer.

Keir Starmer is going to end up with his trademark u-turn here – where it becomes obvious to those paying attention it was entirely forced by backbenchers. So he gets no credit for the u-turn by people who wanted it, and attacked for dropping the policy by others.

I reckon it'll be more than 80.

Labour MPs largely didnt favour it already, and fhe political arguements have collapsed (not to mentioned the silly rhetoric)

But the opposition hasn't sprung overnight: MPs have been meeting with migrant care workers over recent months, and there was a well attended Westminster Hall debate last month with some strong objections raised

Many MPs were deeply unhappy about the 'bourgeois' comments on Friday. They feel it further points to the fact the approach is just about Reform, rather than the policies themselves

bsky.app/profile/bena...

One minister said there was “very little appetite” for Mahmood’s approach among cabinet colleagues, with another telling The Observer: “There is a gap emerging [between No 10 and the Home Office] because people have started saying we shouldn’t be doing it, so Shabana has gone public pre-emptively.”

Meltdown in Gorton puts wind in the sails of Labour’s imm... Feeling vindicated by the Greens’ byelection win, MPs hope to force the home secretary to rethink her plans

Exc: As many as 80 Labour MPs are braced to oppose the home secretary's immigration policies

Dozens of backbenchers and ministers are understood to be hostile to Shabana Mahmood's reforms. After the Gorton by-election they're pushing for a "recalibration"

observer.co.uk/news/politic...

It's not just the timeline that doesn't make sense

and hats off to @petergeoghegan.bsky.social for breaking the story 3 weeks ago about Labour Together hiring APCO to investigate the journalists who had written about the thinktank and its £730k of undeclared donations used to help elect Starmer, which is where the really significant questions are.

Exactly. If I had just lost my job for commissioning and sharing information about journalists I would simply not share any more information about journalists

Very busy playing 4D chess? 🤷‍♀️

🤯

Notable that these allies are only approaching select journalists - not those who have reported on the story afaik

Especially as it includes details about * personal information involving other journalists *

I'm not a 4D chess player myself but I do find it quite curious that "allies of Josh Simons" think they can spin their way out of this by sending journalists - the cohort who probably care most about this story - bullet points on background 🤷‍♀️

More from his resignation letter

I think the use of the phrase "these newspaper reporters" is quite pointed

Key section in Laurie Magnus' report into Josh Simons' activities

JUST IN: Josh Simons quits government.

Starmer: "to avoid any ongoing distraction from delivering the Government’s mission, you have taken the difficult decision to step aside."

Laurie Magnus probe found no breach of the ministerial code.

Story to follow

Josh Simons has resigned as Cabinet Office minister, saying he had become "a distraction from this Govt’s important work"

Praises Gabriel Pogrund, Harry Yorke, and Henry Dyer - journalists who were investigated by APCO - saying he "never sought to smear these newspaper reporters"

Anas Sarwar endorses this message

So far in 2026, America has launched a military strike on 22% of Saturdays

Not sure a 27.5% swing can really be described as 'pushing them over the line', however it's attributed