UK Home Secretary Seeks Sacking of Immigration Minister Over Times Article

A public disagreement has emerged between Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the future of Immigration Minister Mike Tapp. Tapp published an article in The Times on Thursday evening calling for foreign care workers already in the UK to be exempt from proposed changes to visa settlement rules.

Mahmood learned of the article only when the newspaper contacted her team for comment and believes it breaches ministerial rules, BBC News reported.

Mahmood wants Tapp dismissed. A Home Office source told the BBC that Tapp is expected to be sacked for breaching the Ministerial Code and that he had taken ideas the home secretary's team was working on and presented them as his own. The Ministerial Code states that ministers should argue freely in private while maintaining a united front once decisions are reached.

Downing Street has indicated that Tapp remains in his post and that there are no plans to remove him. The prime minister's official spokesman said the prime minister and all ministers remain in office and normal government business continues. Tapp wrote in The Times that those who arrived on care worker visas and contributed to the care system should not face longer waits for settlement.

The dispute occurs as the government prepares to introduce the Immigration and Asylum Bill next Tuesday. The bill seeks to double the qualifying period for permanent residence for most migrants from five years to ten years, with health and social care visa holders facing a 15-year wait and those relying on benefits for more than 12 months facing a 20-year wait.

Mahmood has defended the plans by citing unprecedented arrivals in the UK, while dozens of Labour MPs have opposed the retrospective changes.