Shabana Mahmood demands Keir Starmer sacks minister setting up clash with No10

Shabana Mahmood demands Keir Starmer sacks minister setting up clash with No10 Shabana Mahmood has asked the Prime Minister to sack one of her ministers, Mike Tapp, after he wrote an article without her knowledge calling for migrant care workers to be exempted from tough new settlement rules Shabana Mahmood has dramatically called for Keir Starmer to sack one of her ministers - setting up a flashpoint with No10. The Home Secretary reacted furiously after Mike Tapp penned an article demanding her immigration rules are watered down without her knowledge. Mr Tapp wrote it is his “strong belief” that migrant care workers should not be forced to wait 15 years to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) - a climbdown that is already being considered. But No10 has so far refused to fire the immigration minister, and The Mirror understands no sacking is imminent. It sets up a potential rupture between the PM and his Home Office chief. The Home Secretary and her team are believed to be looking at an exemption to her tough migration shake-up following a furious backlash. A Government source said: “The Home Secretary has asked the Prime Minister for Mike Tapp to be sacked for breaching the Ministerial Code.” The code requires ministers to take collective responsibility for decisions. An insider told Sky News that Mr Tapp - a Starmer loyalist who says there should be a general election if he is replaced - had revealed an idea that his boss is already considering. They said: “He has taken possible ideas that the Home Secretary and her team were working on, and briefed them as his own to try to win a job in the new administration.” Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham is weighing up whether to water down a string of proposals put forward as part of a migration shake-up. Proposals to change ILR rules and apply them retrospectively have sparked an outcry. If it went ahead, it would mean care workers who came to the UK after the Covid pandemic would see their wait for qualification go up to 15 years, three times the current five. This requires them to seek a new sponsor every time they change job, and unions warn it could lead to an exodus in the embattled sector. Over 100 Labour MPs have written to Mr Starmer demanding a rethink. Last month Lydia Kabute, who came to the UK from Kenya in 2023 on a health and social care visa, told The Mirror: Why shift the goalposts from five years to 15 years? Did we do something wrong? "Covid had ravaged everything, it had messed everything up (in the care sector). We came to help and assist. Remember, you (the UK Government) told us to come and help and you gave us the conditions. But now the goal has been shifted." Trade union Unison warns the rule change is morally wrong, and said it could deepen the crisis in social care. It says migrant staff make up nearly 30% of the sector's workforce. Under current rules a person needs to be in the UK for five years before they can get settled status. This is going up to a standard 10 years - but Ms Mahmood says NHS workers, high earners and people who volunteer will be fast-tracked. On the flipside, migrants who claim benefits or who came to the country illegally will be penalised. Ms Mahmood has insisted her reforms will create a compassionate but controlled system. The Mirror has contacted Mr Tapp for comment.