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Tag: Kemi Badenoch

  • Immigrants should only get British citizenship after 15 years – Kemi Badenoch

    Immigrants should only get British citizenship after 15 years – Kemi Badenoch

    Kemi Badenoch has unveiled a major policy shift, proposing that immigrants must wait at least 15 years before becoming eligible for British citizenship.

    The plan, part of her first major announcement as Tory leader, seeks to tighten the immigration system by extending the period before migrants can apply for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) from five to ten years.

    She also disclosed that those who claim benefits, access social housing, or have criminal records would be barred from settling in the UK permanently.

    “I want to reduce immigration and make living here actually mean something. We need to change the way our immigration system works. So I am announcing that the conservative party is going to do the following things differently: 1. If you want to stay in our country permanently and apply for indefinite leave to remain, the time you have to live here before you apply would increase from 5 years to 10 years. 2. You will have to be a net contributor with a high enough salary, especially if you want to bring family members with you. And if you have a criminal record, you are banned.

    “We would increase the time you can apply for a British passport from 12 months to 5 years, meaning it will take a minimum of 15 years to start an application. If you enter this country illegally or overstay your visa, you will be banned from ever getting leave to remain or a passport,” she said in a video shared on her X, formerly known as Twitter, handle.

    Under the current system, most migrants can apply for ILR after five years of working in the UK, with some visa holders qualifying in two or three years.

    ILR grants the right to live, work, and study in the UK indefinitely, and after 12 months, holders can apply for

    British citizenship.

    The new Conservative proposal extends the ILR period to ten years and mandates an additional five-year wait before migrants can apply for citizenship—tripling the minimum timeframe from six to 15 years.

    The party is pushing for these changes to be backdated to 2021 by amending the upcoming Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, set for parliamentary debate next week.

    Badenoch’s plan also cracks down on welfare access for immigrants.

    While most migrants on work visas, asylum seekers, and those in the UK illegally cannot claim state benefits due to the “no recourse to public funds” condition, some have had the restriction lifted.

    Badenoch argued that the current system had created a “conveyor belt” to citizenship, allowing too many people to settle in the UK too quickly and “creating a strain on public services.”

    “We need to make sure that people coming here have a real, meaningful connection to the UK—no criminal records, they should be net contributors to the economy, not relying on benefits but people who care about our country and our communities,” she said in ss quoted by BBC.

    However, she declined to specify how much this policy would reduce migration numbers.

  • Kemi Badenoch: Her father was professor at UNILAG, she never sold sachet water – Prof Akinyemi

    Kemi Badenoch: Her father was professor at UNILAG, she never sold sachet water – Prof Akinyemi

    Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, has called out Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the UK’s Conservative Party, for her frequent negative remarks about Nigeria.

    Read Also: I don’t want Britain to be like Nigeria where govt destroys lives – Kemi Badenoch

    Akinyemi accused Badenoch of using disparaging remarks about Nigeria to advance her political career.

    Recall Badenoch has been under fire in Nigeria for a series of negative comments about her homeland.

    Before taking the helm of the Conservative Party, Badenoch had described Nigeria as a socialist country plagued by a corrupt political class and widespread insecurity.

    She also criticised the Nigerian police and lamented the poverty she experienced while growing up in Lagos, the nation’s commercial hub and most populous city.

    Recently, Badenoch added to her controversial remarks, saying Nigeria destroys lives and expressing her determination to prevent a similar fate for Britain.

    “And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” she said.

    “I don’t want Britain to lose what it has. I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.

    “I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life. So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”

    Prof Akinyemi reacts

    Akinyemi, however, condemned Badenoch’s approach, arguing that attacking the nation of her birth was both unwise and a betrayal of her heritage.

    “How can the daughter of a professor of UNILAG (University of Lagos) — her father was a medical doctor — a girl who went to the international school at UNILAG, make it sound like she was selling groundnuts and selling water in Lagos in order to advance her political career?” he asked while speaking on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’.

    “She would soon learn that you don’t throw your people and your culture under the bus in order to advance your career.

    “She is making a mistake, but she would soon learn.

    “After all, right now, there is even a right-wing political party in the United Kingdom that is even to the right of the Conservative Party.

    “So, what she should be focusing on is how to regain that right-wing profile of the Conservative Party and leave Nigeria alone,” Akinyemi concluded.