The energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, has issued a statement saying she fully supports the home secretary's migration plans, hours after joking at a Westminster journalists' event that her promise never to lie had made a recent Sky News interview awkward, The Guardian reports.
In that interview she had repeatedly declined to say she backed proposals to make foreign workers wait 15 years, rather than five, before claiming indefinite leave to remain. Her remark was reportedly badly received by government colleagues.
On Thursday evening she said the comment was meant to be self-deprecating but had not come across as intended. Shabana Mahmood is still considering more than 200,000 consultation responses, while dozens of Labour MPs oppose the changes and some hope care workers will be exempted.
Source: The Guardian
