Speeches by Mahmood.

“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…”

“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…”

“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.”

“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…”

“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 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…”

“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. …”

“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…”

“The two are related.”

“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, …”

“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 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. …”

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

“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 …”

“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…”

“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 …”

“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…”

“Again, this a system of economic migration. It is right for the state to expect people who are coming here to work to be able to support themselves and, if they choose to bring their families with them, that they will be able to support their families as well. The system is designed to make sure that people are working…”