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Example 46128 of how house price inflation and utterly inadequate social housing has made everything worse.

It’s straight out of the Daily Mail playbook. Under a Labour Gov. Surreal.

I'm appalled. Mahmood/Labour immigration policy is straight from Reform's playbook. There's so much about Starmer's Labour that I don't recognise as the Labour party, I'll be lending my vote to somebody else. Starmer has abandoned me.

The "immediate access" to social housing is particularly bad misinformation - it's a scarce resource that many people would like but can't access. They're all too ready to believe that immigrants skip the queue. In reality of course they get access only to the housing register, like everyone else.

“Contribute less”? This reflects an attitude not only towards these workers, but those to whom they deliver care- the old, sick, disabled.

"Benefits"

Beggars belief…. I seriously can’t deal with this level of mendacity

There's something not quite right about Ms Mahmood

Any time someone tries to justify something by talking about “hard working families” my hackles immediately go up.

You would think they would actually read the rules before they rewrite them

As someone with an american wife: Her visa has so far cost us about £7,000, it took years to get done, and she qualifies for absolutely nothing from the state whatsoever. Another £4,000 payment is due at the end of next year, and she still won't qualify for anything until she can apply for ILR.

I wonder, would UK tax exiles who've spent their last years in Dubai be eligible for immediate access to welfare and housing after the gov has paid* for their flights back? *via an interest free loan

It's disgusting that a person's existence is being valued in the basis of how much money they earn or how worthwhile their job is deemed to be.

If we have a shortage of labour/skills it shouldn't matter what the salary is. Each person filling in the gap should be treated equally

Those overseas workers that Mahmood labels as unskilled , are the ones that helped grow our consumer capitalist based economy . Finance might be Reeves ‘ jewel in the economy ‘ , but it’s the imported manual workers that have provided the labour needed for growth . Exploited ? Essential .

"We're the party of the working class" says Mahmood, adding, 'we value high earners more than care workers'. She and her party should be ashamed.

I'm always fascinated by the term "hard working tax payers". I'm retired but still paying tax. Does that make me an "indolent tax payer" in the manner of the "undeserving poor"?

Why would a Labour politician, of all people, lie about this? It tells us 1) she knows her policy won’t stand on its own merits and 2) she’s not doing it just to ‘fend off the far right’, but actually believes in it. It’s this, more than anything else, which is driving lifetime Labour voters away.

What on earth are they doing.

I'm so angry that Labour has continued the same performative cruelty policy as the Tories on immigration. They deserve to lose every election they stand in. I have no sympathy for any of them.

So does she think such people don’t pay VAT when they go shopping? There are lots of UK people who don’t pay tax, and they live in Dubai (or Thailand, from where they bankroll Reform). But she never sees them as a problem

What’s the point of a Labour Party that comes up with this kind of thing

So “low-skilled workers” don’t work hard or pay taxes?

@katyguest.bsky.social Obviously opinion pages not an excuse to publish falsehoods. If Portes is right, will you publish correction?

Also unhelpful language around contribution, with bizarre examples of doctors, nurses and 'high earners'. Is she suggesting care workers and other low-paid workers who we desperately rely on aren't high contributors? So reductive if it's all about income or what is narrowly defined as high-skilled.

On and on she goes. “Let’s keep immigration and asylum on every front page, in everyone’s mind” is such a bizarre strategy. Most voters, not just those likely to vote Labour, have other issues beyond this quagmire competing for attention. Urgent, but much easier to think about - and even solvable.

I didn't think the Guardian or Mahmood could infuriate me any more than they already have,I was wrong. Guardian is addicted to clickbait in order to generate outrage & engagement & I don't what the fuck Mahmood thinks she is doing, other than undermine the Labour Party by being as vile as possible.

Also, that immigrants arriving on Tier 2 work visas have to pay NHS surcharges and visa fees for themselves and any dependents for 5yrs until eligible to apply for ILR. And they pay Tax and NI, but have no access to other benefits during the qualifying period.

As far as I understand, no-one has "immediate access to social housing"; the best case scenario is being added to a list that is almost certainly years long, which allocates housing in the basis of need.

I think the word you're looking for here is "lying"