GREATER MANCHESTER — Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said he backs Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood's proposed overhaul of the immigration system as he campaigns as the Labour candidate in the Makerfield by-election. He said he would not seek to dilute the government's curbs on legal and illegal migration.

"Mahmood was right to grasp this nettle and have root and branch reform of the system. I agree with that," Burnham said. He linked the pressure on the system to the UK's departure from the European Union, saying: "Immigration control has weakened as a result of Brexit. We've replaced one form of immigration with a very different form of immigration that is more long-term."

Mahmood has set out a package of changes that would scrap permanent refugee status, remove government support from asylum seekers deemed not to need it or who break the law, and ask anyone granted asylum to leave the UK if their country is later deemed safe. The proposals would also double the time required for some people to achieve settled status from five years to ten years. Officials said the extended timetable will apply to many people already in the UK and is scheduled to come into effect later this year after a government consultation on exempted groups.

Burnham expressed reservations about reassessing asylum seekers' status if their home countries become safer for return. "I do have a concern about leaving people without the ability to settle, one of the concerns being if there is a need to constantly check up on the status of countries where people have come from, that might limit the ability of the Home Office to deal with the backlog," he said.

Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner called the retrospective changes to indefinite leave to remain "un-British". Sarah Owen, leader of the Tribune group of centre-left Labour MPs, said the idea of deporting children mimicked Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention of minors in the United States.

Reform UK, whose support in the Makerfield constituency increased at the recent local elections, has called Burnham "open-borders Andy". The Conservative Party announced that it would stand Michael Winstanley as a candidate in the by-election. Anneliese Midgley and Louise Haigh will run his campaign.

Polling from YouGov suggests that more than half of Labour Party members want the same or more restrictive immigration policies, with 44% backing Mahmood's changes, 18% preferring an even tougher approach and 26% wanting a more liberal stance. Approximately half of members believe the party faces a greater risk of losing votes to Reform UK, while 15% think vote losses to the Green Party are the bigger issue and 27% said both pose an equal threat.