Speeches by Mahmood.

“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…”

“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…”

“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 …”

“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…”

“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…”

“I would love to be in that position, but I cannot guarantee I am going to be in that position because the measures will take some time to come into effect. We will legislate at the earliest opportunity to change the appeal system and further restrict the way that article 8 of the Human Rights Act is interpreted. There …”

“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…”

“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 whether Dublin actually worked as was intended. The EU has now itself created a new pact because its own arrangements were not working as intended, so I would think it is a bit of a stretch. I am sure there are lots of other debates to be had about the rights and wrongs of Brexit, but is Brexit responsi…”

“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…”

“Yes, and I understand that, but I repeat that under the previous Government there was an expected market shortage for social care workers of between 6,000 and 40,000. That is quite a big range, which tells you that there is unreliability in the understanding of exactly what the needs of that part of the workforce are. …”

“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.”

“Yes.”

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

“Yes, it is when you apply.”

“The equality impact assessment is a living document, so the policy is not yet finalised and will change based on the policy choices that are made. It would not be unusual for there to be bigger impacts on some groups than others. The question—and the legal obligation—is whether they are proportionate in order to meet t…”

“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 …”

“Well, it is a point that has been made by lots of others. Europe in its relationships with Turkey and others has tried similar to break different routes into Europe. It is an understood concept, and it is the core concept that the treaty was designed to try to get towards. Getting to the end point is something that req…”

“That was the formal notification post the Act passing into law, but long before that, and soon after we came into Government, there were conversations with the Rwandans to explain to them our position as a Government. I am very happy, on a private basis, to share with the Committee a timeline. I hope that the Committee…”