MIGRANT social care workers and porters cleaning coronavirus-ridden hospitals have been left out of government plans to extend visas for foreign NHS staff free of charge.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has been under pressure to clarify an announcement last month in which she said that NHS staff whose visas were due to expire before October can automatically have them extended for free for a year.

MPs pressed the Home Secretary on whether this would also include NHS support staff such as porters, cleaners and financial workers, as well as those in the social care sector.