HOME SECRETARY Shabana Mahmood told migrants to earn the right to be British today in a further desperate government bid to neutralise the Reform threat by echoing it.

Pledging to be a “tough Labour Home Secretary” Ms Mahmood’s conference speech was more tough than Labour.

She announced that migrants will have to jump through many hoops to be allowed indefinite leave to remain. The qualifying period before it can be granted will rise from five years to 10.

And they will have to meet new tests “such as being in work, making National Insurance contributions, not taking a penny in benefits, learning English to a high standard and having no criminal record.

“And finally, that you have truly given back to your community, such as volunteering your time to a local cause. Without meeting those conditions, I do not believe your ability to stay in this country should be automatic,” Ms Mahmood said, imposing conditions which vast numbers of the British-born could not meet.

She added: “Time spent in this country alone is not enough. Just like my parents, you must earn the right to live in this country for good. If you do, I know that our country will welcome you.”

Ms Mahmood claimed this was necessary because Britain was risking turning from patriotism towards “a smaller, more divisive ethno-nationalism. Our challenge now is to fight for our vision of this country and in doing so to hold it together.

“I will fight for our belief in a greater Britain, not a littler England,” she said.

She repeated several times that she stood for an “open, tolerant, generous country” which she would protect with “order at our borders, fair migration, safe streets and a secure nation.”

The Home Secretary also indicated a reordering of police priorities to focus “on the crimes that people care about,” citing knife crime and shoplifting as examples.

Three thousand more neighbourhood officers will be recruited to help with this, she said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan joined in the strained Labour debate as to whether Reform is racist, or just its policies, or just some of its supporters, telling a fringe meeting that he would not use the term.

“I think it’s a really loaded word, and so I’m very careful when I use it, for the obvious reason, I don’t want to devalue this really powerful word,” he said.