Speeches by Mahmood.

“Well, we are talking about a system of economic migration, so I think it would be odd to say that we are not looking at earnings. You are looking for people to come and work, and the intention is that they can support themselves. You are not looking to bring in people who will ultimately require assistance from the wel…”

“It is a genuine piece of work, and I recognise that big changes are potentially happening. I would say that despite the fact that we are consulting, it is inconceivable that literally nobody who is currently here would be affected by any of these changes, and I think we should be up front about that. Beyond that, we wi…”

“As I have said already, we have had a very large number of people arrive in the country, much more than were expected, in an unprecedented way. It does demand an answer from the Government because, potentially without any changes, a very large number of people—1.6 million, on our central estimate—would become eligible …”

“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 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…”

“Those elections will not be proceeding and the post will be abolished. I have a review—”

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

“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 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 …”

“No, it is our ability to get people on a plane and get them back to France. We are having claims all the time. On our side, we have had practical and legal hurdles to overcome; on the French side, there are practical hurdles to overcome as well.”

“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.”

“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…”

“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, …”

“We are very committed to opening up new safe and legal routes. We have obviously set out proposals for specific routes for workers and students, and the third part of that is a new community sponsorship model to be able to bring refugees into the country. We are designing and consulting with people as we speak, and we …”

“No—you shouldn’t take what I have said as a plan. I have said that the consultation is genuinely open on this point, and that we have already had representations making some of these points. We will look at the totality of the responses that we have received before we design the final policy.”

“The initial proposal is based on individual contribution being the means by which you earn settlement in the country, and that proposal is being consulted on. We are very aware that there will be knock-on consequences for those who, as an individual, cannot meet the test that we are proposing. Again, we have received m…”

“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…”

“What I have asked for are policy proposals to try to meet the challenge we have. What we set out in the consultation is a new way of thinking about how settlement is earned in this country, how we might reward the behaviours we want to see, and how we add on more time for people if, for example, they end up accessing b…”

“Yes, well—they were able to disappear, though, without being detected. You would not actually know the full number. That is the reality. I do not think you are comparing like for like. This is a new phenomenon of people willing to risk their lives to get across a body of water in a dinghy. You have had organised crime …”

“But I think we can agree that at a national level the numbers fell significantly, at the very least.”