3 November 2026

Restore Britain pledges to abolish ILR and reverse citizenships granted from 2nd November, as Labour unveils "earned settlement"

As the Home Secretary set out a longer path to settlement, Rupert Lowe promised to abolish indefinite leave to remain, revoke existing grants and legislate to cancel citizenships granted from Monday 2nd November

Restore Britain set out sweeping new immigration commitments on Monday 2nd November, the day the Government announced its long-awaited overhaul of the rules on settling in the UK.

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, set out an "earned settlement" model that makes 10 years the new default wait for permanent settlement. Rupert Lowe said a Restore Britain Government would go much further: abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) altogether, revoke existing grants, and pass retrospective legislation to cancel citizenships granted from that day onwards.

These are pledges, not law. They would need new legislation from a future Parliament, and they go well beyond the powers ministers have today.

The main points

What Restore Britain says it would do:

- Abolish indefinite leave to remain. No new grants of permanent settlement.

- Revoke existing ILR. Holders would be reassessed under Restore's "Red List" criteria. Those who qualify could get time-limited visas. Those who do not would be required to leave.

- End the routine path from a temporary visa to British citizenship.

- Pass a retrospective law cancelling citizenships granted from Monday 2nd November 2026 under the current system.

- Set up a body to review naturalisations "going back decades" and pursue removal of citizenship where it finds grounds such as fraud.

- Keep an exception for citizenship gained through marriage. The posts describe this exception in different words (see below).

- Enforce departures for anyone with no right to stay under the new system.

What the Government announced:

- The default wait for settlement rises from 5 years to 10 years.

- Higher earners and some public service workers can settle after 5 years.

- The highest earners can settle after 3 years.

- Small-boat arrivals could wait up to 30 years.

- Care workers who arrived before May 2025 and earned at least £25,000 a year keep a 5-year route.

- Nobody who already has settled status will lose it.

Where the law stands now:

- ILR can currently be revoked only in narrow cases, such as when it was obtained by deception.

- Citizenship can currently be removed only on specific grounds, such as fraud, and those affected have a right of appeal.

The Government's plan

The Home Office said the "right to live in the UK forever will no longer be granted to migrants almost automatically after 5 years". Instead, under the new model "set out before Parliament", settlement "will be earned". The BBC reported that Ms Mahmood set out the plans in the House of Commons.

According to the Home Office announcement:

- The default wait for settlement will be 10 years.

- Those earning more than £50,271, and some public service workers such as doctors, nurses and teachers, can settle after 5 years.

- The highest earners can settle within 3 years.

- Those who have breached immigration rules can settle only after at least 20 years.

- Anyone who arrived by small boat or another clandestine route faces an extra 10-year wait, "meaning they could wait up to 30 years for settlement".

- Applicants must have a clean criminal record, speak English to a high standard, owe no debt to the taxpayer and have a record of sustained National Insurance contributions.

- "An estimated over 500,000 people will wait longer than 5 years to settle", the Government said.

- "Settled status will never be removed from anyone who already holds it."

On care workers, the Home Office said those "who met their visa conditions and earned at least £25,000 a year will be able to settle after 5 years". The BBC said this applies to care workers who arrived in the UK before May 2025. The Home Office said that around a quarter of care workers would not qualify for the 5-year route and would instead be offered a new 5-year visa.

Ms Mahmood said: "Settled status is one of the most valuable rights this country can offer. Until now it has been given almost automatically. From today, it must be earned."

Restore's response: "Undo it"

Lowe set out Restore's commitments on X at 07:30 GMT. He wrote: "The incoming foreign wave of low-skilled mass settlement and citizenship must be reversed."

His post listed the commitments:

- "We will abolish Indefinite Leave to Remain entirely. No further ILR grants will be permitted."

- "Revoke all existing ILR grants. A Restore Britain Parliament will legislate to terminate existing ILR permissions and, where appropriate, replace them with a system of time-limited visas, subject to the strict criteria contained in our immigration Red List. Those who don't meet that standard will leave."

- "Entirely end the routine pathway from temporary visas to citizenship - living or working in Britain will no longer provide a route to naturalisation."

- "Cancel naturalisation grants made from today onwards. We will introduce retrospective legislation to revoke every citizenship granted, as of today, under the existing immigration system."

- Restore would "create a dedicated body to review naturalisation grants going back decades, audit original applications, investigate fraudulent citizenship awards, assess the contribution made to our country and pursue deprivation wherever appropriate grounds are established".

- "And crucially - we will enforce immigration departures."

He explained the reasoning: "Ending ILR is not enough. It will be too late - the consequence of ILR is citizenship, permanent citizenship." He ended: "A Restore Britain Government will undo the damage. Not tolerate it, or manage it, or control it. Undo it."

At 08:04 GMT the party's own account said: "A Restore Britain Government will cancel naturalisation grants made from today onwards." It added: "The current system has suffered widespread abuse and fraud. We no longer recognise it as legitimate."

At 08:08 GMT Lowe wrote: "A Restore Britain Government will undo the traitorous immigration decisions of Boris Johnson and the cruel damage his Conservative Government inflicted on the British people."

At 16:07 GMT he summed up the pledge: "Restore Britain will entirely abolish ILR, rescind it from all existing holders, remove citizenship from anyone granted it from today and put all of those migrants through our FAR stricter red list immigration system."

"No review, just revoke"

Later, the party's account wrote at 16:43 GMT: "A Restore Britain Government will remove every citizenship granted to foreign nationals through these new announcements - other than a tiny amount through marriage to a British citizen. Mass denaturalisations will be required, and delivered. No review, just revoke."

At 18:31 GMT Lowe wrote: "Restore Britain now considers the entire British immigration system fundamentally illegitimate."

He went on: "From today, November 2nd 2026, every new grant of immigration status or citizenship under the existing system will be reversed by a Restore Britain Government. We will introduce retrospective legislation to revoke every one of those grants upon taking office."

He said those affected "will be assessed under Restore Britain's stringent immigration Red List". Those who meet it "may qualify for time-limited permission to remain - in small and manageable numbers". He added: "Those who do not meet those requirements will be required to leave. Politely at first, then not."

He argued: "The British people have every right to elect a government that fundamentally changes the immigration system - other governments have manipulated the system to import millions. We will do the same, but to deport."

The 18:31 post goes further than the morning one. It covers "every new grant of immigration status or citizenship" from 2nd November, not only citizenship.

The marriage exception

Restore's posts describe the marriage exception in different ways:

- Lowe, 07:30 GMT: "citizenship obtained through marriage to a British citizen who was born in Britain with at least one parent also born in our country".

- Restore Britain, 08:04 GMT: "an exception for those who obtained citizenship through marriage to a British citizen".

- Restore Britain, 16:43 GMT: "other than a tiny amount through marriage to a British citizen".

- Lowe, 18:31 GMT: "the exception we have set out for citizenship obtained through marriage to a British citizen".

Only the 07:30 post adds the conditions that the British spouse was born in Britain and has at least one British-born parent.

Bolton: "climbed down"

At 06:27 GMT, Henry Bolton warned that "A climb down by @ShabanaMahmood on ILR would be a sell out to the British people". He argued that "The answer to shortages in care workers isn’t to open our borders, it is to close them, train Brits and reward them appropriately."

At 17:15 GMT, quoting that post, he wrote: "She’s done it, climbed down. No surprise there."

Downes: "reverse the whole thing"

At 17:38 GMT, Restore's campaigns director, Charlie Downes, set out how he sees the parties' positions:

"Labour will reward the Boriswave with citizenship.

The Conservatives will do nothing about it.

Reform UK will allow Boriswave migrants to stay if they 'benefit Britain.'

Restore Britain will withdraw every Boriswave citizenship granted by Labour and reverse the whole thing."

These are Mr Downes's descriptions of the other parties' positions.

What the law says now

Under current law, ministers have only narrow powers to take away settled status or citizenship.

Section 76 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 allows the Home Secretary to revoke ILR if:

- the person is liable to deportation but cannot be deported for legal reasons

- the leave was obtained by deception

- the person, or someone they depend on, has stopped being a refugee in certain set circumstances.

Section 40 of the British Nationality Act 1981 allows the Home Secretary to deprive someone of citizenship if:

- this is "conducive to the public good", although such an order generally cannot be made if it would leave the person stateless

- citizenship gained by naturalisation or registration was obtained by "fraud", "false representation" or "concealment of a material fact".

People deprived of citizenship have a right of appeal.

Restore's plan to abolish ILR and cancel citizenships granted from a set date would therefore need new primary legislation. Such a law would very likely face legal challenge. Restore's posts on Monday did not say how a Restore Britain Government would deal with legal challenges, or with cases where removing citizenship would leave someone stateless.

Sources

Image: John M, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons