Mahmood says ministers seek work visa approvals every week or two
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood says Labour ministers regularly ask her to approve work visas, sometimes for urgent vacancies that departments say they cannot fill in time. She argues that overseas recruitment should be used only when there is a genuine labour shortage, and says relying on it too readily can leave local skills undeveloped and migrant workers exposed to poor pay and conditions.
Mahmood said such requests come at least once every week or two, citing pleas for workers such as welders. She highlighted the care sector as an example of low pay and poor working conditions, and said Labour should address those problems. In the same interview, she backed creating safe routes for refugees, said France could not simply be made to take back every migrant arriving by small boat, and defended the ban on Palestine Action while expressing discomfort at arrests of its supporters.
- Mahmood says ministers seek work visas every week or two.
- She says overseas recruitment can sideline local skills.
- She also backs safe routes for refugees.
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Work visas allow people from outside the UK to come and work in specific jobs. When government departments or employers struggle to find British workers to fill vacancies, they can apply to recruit from overseas instead. The system is meant to be used only when there are genuine shortages that cannot be met domestically.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is responsible for approving these overseas recruitment requests. She has noted that Labour ministers across different departments regularly ask her permission to hire workers from abroad for roles ranging from welders to care workers. These requests reportedly come at least weekly or fortnightly.
The Home Secretary has expressed concern about over-reliance on overseas recruitment. She argues that too readily hiring workers from abroad can prevent the government from properly investing in training British workers for these jobs. She also points to risks for migrant workers themselves, who can end up in low-paid roles with poor working conditions if overseas recruitment is used as a shortcut rather than as a last resort.
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The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Government departments make these requests because they face genuine, immediate labour shortages that affect their ability to deliver services to the public. Work visas allow critical vacancies in healthcare, care, and other essential roles to be filled promptly when domestic recruitment has proved insufficient. The frequency of such requests reflects real economic gaps in the current labour market that cannot simply be wished away without harming service delivery.
The case against
Overreliance on work visas undermines investment in developing domestic skills and creates a cycle where employers recruit from abroad rather than improving wages, conditions, and training to attract British workers. Migrant workers, particularly in sectors like care, face exploitation and poor conditions whilst domestic talent remains underdeveloped. By restricting work visas to genuine shortages with higher justification thresholds, the government can incentivise employers to address root causes—better pay, better conditions, better training—thereby supporting both worker welfare and sustainable long-term economic growth.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood reveals Labour ministers constantly lobby her to give out more visas for migrant workers, with requests ‘at least once every week or two’”.