Speeches by Mahmood.

“We are consulting on the precise nature of whether to look at changing the rules on settlement and recourse to public funds, which would of course require primary legislation, or whether to simply extend the qualifying period to beyond 10 years for particular cohorts of lower-skilled workers. That is an open question, …”

“You are only bringing in workers to benefit your economy, right? Of course you would want to look at earnings in that context; I do not think there is anything wrong with that. Successive Governments have made the argument for wanting this country to be able to attract the brightest and the best. It would be odd if we …”

“I am not, as you will know, able to see the papers of the previous Government, so, being in the building now, it is difficult for me to see exactly what was happening under the previous Administration. I would say that the publicly available numbers showed a big increase. As a constituency Member of Parliament, I was s…”

“It is inconceivable that they wouldn’t have been aware at all. Obviously, it would be for them to explain what exactly they knew and when, but even if you just go by the information that was publicly available, in which you could see the big growths in net migration, I think it became very clear very quickly that there…”

“The consultation asks a very open question about whether the way to manage this part of the problem is to change what is available to you once you get settled status, versus just extending the qualifying period. There are pros and cons to both. On that particular question, the consultation is, and I am personally, very…”

“I would not say it is deterrence. There is a particular issue where we have seen migration into the country on a very large scale—much more than was expected—and of a very different nature to what we have had before, both in terms of the skills range and the number of dependants. Something like 50% of the care work num…”

“No, I disagree. If you look at our paper on the new proposals for settlement, the intention is to restore the element of contribution at the heart of the system. I think that our country is full of very tolerant and generous people—we are very open—but I think there is a condition to that, which is about contribution. …”

“I think what is fair is that a Government and a country should be able to respond to the circumstances that they face. We have two set-piece rule changes every year, usually in April and then in the autumn for immigration rule changes. It is not uncommon for us to change our rules. These are obviously bigger changes, b…”

“The basis on which an application for indefinite leave to remain is assessed is based on the rules at the time that you apply. That has always been the case, and I think that that was upheld in case law—it has been tested in court and been upheld in case law since 2009.”

“Yes, and that is the point that I am making. It has been assessed on the rules that are enforced at the point of application for many years. That is not a new change; it is not a thing that we have just done that is different. It has been tested in court in the past; there is 2009 case law on this point. It is the rule…”

“The reforms for settlement are precipitated by the issues in relation to the scale and pace of recent migration into the country. Between 2021 and 2024, net migration stood at 2.6 million people, which means that around one in every 30 people in this country today arrived in those four years. We have seen particular is…”

“I would dispute that net migration is at very low levels. It is still really quite high. It has had a big drop from the very large increases that you saw under the previous Administration, but it is still comfortably over 200,000, which is still quite high on any measure. When I first came into Parliament, back in the …”

“Evidence has already been given to the Committee about what was said in front of me on 8 October—”

“We will protect the position of those who are already here in line with the commitments that were made when we published the immigration White Paper last summer, but separately to that there will obviously need to be a consideration of what is happening under the new system. We will want to make sure that they are all …”

“We have already announced that we want to go from a baseline five-year qualifying period to 10 years, which we are not consulting on. We have a relatively generous welfare state. Five years is actually quite a short period before people can be permanently settled in the country, with all the benefits that brings. It is…”

“At the moment, once you are here there are still mandatory requirements to fulfil before you get settlement, but it is much more of an automatic process, I guess. Beyond that, I think it is a year to citizenship after you have settled status. They are quite quick processes actually, but I am not seeking to limit the nu…”

“An application is assessed based on the rules that were in force at the point at which the application is made, not what the rules were when the person came to the country.”

“I think we’ve had a lot of dodgy providers in this area. That is why we have closed the route and revoked so many sponsor licences. As the rules were changed and we started to look at medium and lower-skilled migrants, it was obvious that those new routes were open to abuse. It is one of the reasons why, going back to …”

“Again, we have to set fees at a level that is appropriate. It is a privilege, not a right. It would be odd if we had a system of no fees for some people because we have to manage the system properly. There are costs attached to processing these applications. Again, people make choices themselves to come to another coun…”

“Well, we should never have been in the position where we were in the contracts in the first place—”