Speeches by Atkinson.

“There has been some suggestion and the Home Office consultation talks about a potential mixture of different options including extending the no recourse to public funds conditions. There has been some suggestion that there could be a retention of the current route to settlement, the five-year path of ILR but an extensi…”

“Let us move on. Clearly the proposal as it stands would apply to people already in the UK and we have talked a bit about that already. Even if the Government were to make these changes for future migrants do you think there should be transitional protections for people who are already in the UK and if so what do you th…”

“I will come back on worker protections in a minute, if I may, Peter. On the wider point around transitional protections not necessarily for specific groups but for people existing in the UK who came to the UK on the promise of a five-year route to ILR and Mr Percival and Professor Green, do you have a view on transitio…”

“I will come on to transitional protections and the impact on workers but if I can just ask a very quick follow-up on the thing about salary thresholds. Do you think there is a differential regional impact on this? I am thinking of parts of the country such as mine, Sunderland, that I represent clearly has a relatively …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the speech he is making. Does he agree that although the Government seek through their proposals to increase integration, by limiting ILR to those who stay beyond 10 years we are actually going to reduce integration in exactly the sort of instance that he has outlined? That risks undermining …”

“Thank you. In what circumstances does the Home Office have oversight of whether employers have carried out those checks?”

“Ms Hunt, by way of introduction, can you briefly explain employers’ current legal obligations to carry out right-to-work checks?”

“I welcome the 15% off business rates for pubs in Sunderland. As we are a music city—live music is core to our identity and regeneration—I particularly welcome the steps that the Minister has announced for live music venues, and his engagement with me and the Music Venue Trust. Could he say a little bit about the method…”

“There is some merit in the hon. Gentleman’s proposal, not just for medical training but across the clinical workforce. As Members have acknowledged, we pay significant sums of public money training clinical staff, but the graduates incur significant student debt. If a UK-trained undergraduate student decides to work ab…”

“I welcome the Government bringing forward this legislation, and not just in response to the significant concerns that doctors currently have about access to training places, but as an important part of a reset, with a longer-term approach, to ensure that we have an NHS workforce that is fit for the future. I am going t…”

“I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement. My constituents expect the everyday policing response to improve, but they know the value of more specialist public order capabilities, because in August 2024 the brave officers of Northumbria police put on their public order gear to protect our citizens against disgraceful vio…”

“As someone who supports modernising and digitising the state, but who spoke against mandatory digital ID, I welcome the Minister’s sensible approach and his engagement over recent months. My constituents are really concerned about illegal working. Does he agree that the current and largely paper-based system of right-t…”

“I thank my hon. Friend and his Committee for their work on this really important matter. I would like to ask about the recommendations regarding substance misuse treatment commissioning. Does he agree with me and Collective Voice, the umbrella organisation for drug treatment providers, that drug treatment services are …”

“The hon. Member mentioned £100 million or £300 million as minuscule amounts, but that is quite a lot of money to my hard-pressed constituents. Could the Liberal Democrats outline how they would pay for the policy that they advocate for—either increasing taxes on working people in my constituency or cutting the services…”

“That is really interesting. The Government have recently described that the generosity—in its words—of our asylum system acts as a pull factor to people who may otherwise claim asylum elsewhere. How far do you agree with that assessment?”

“Thanks for coming in this afternoon. We know that the number of asylum claims in the UK increased by 15% in the year to June 2025, but that claims in the EU decreased by 22% in the same time. Could you share your assessment of what is driving the rise in UK claims, particularly in the context of falls in European claim…”

“Just to check, are you suggesting that, with the UK obviously not being part of the EU agreement anymore, that has potentially contributed to the attractiveness of seeking asylum in the UK?”

“Zooming back out—Ms Benton, you touched on this before—could I finally ask where the evidence points in terms of the overall drivers of the number of irregular entries and the number of people seeking asylum in the UK? What do you think the evidence points to as the key factors that would influence those numbers?”

“Denmark has been widely cited by the Government as an example of a country that has reduced pull factors in recent years. Could you say a little about the evidence you have seen there and how that contrasts with the UK?”

“I absolutely agree with the hon. Gentleman, and he will not be surprised that I will come on in my speech to deal with some wider issues about the Online Safety Act, in particular the protection of children. I think that today’s debate is likely to be more nuanced than simply whether we should maintain or repeal the On…”