The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Henley)
My Lords, we are committed to reducing net migration to tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, by the end of this Parliament. We have already introduced an annual limit on the number of non-EU workers, overhauled the student visa route and increased enforcement activity. Our next steps are to break the link between temporary and permanent migration by restricting settlement rights and to reform family migration.
Lord Roberts of Conwy
I am glad to hear that very positive response. With immigration in the last calendar year running at 591,000, and in this year to March at only 9,000 fewer, is it not imperative that we do all that we can to reduce immigration for the sake of everyone already here and relying on our hard-pressed services, and to keep the total population from reaching the projected high of 70 million about 16 years from now?
Lord Henley
My Lords, we are trying to reduce the net migration figures—that is, the difference between immigration and emigration. I stress that we believe that immigration enriches the country and we owe a lot to all those who have come and who will come to this country. However, there must be limits, and it must be sustainable. We have seen a smallish drop in net migration, but it is not as small as it should be. That is partly because emigration seems to have gone down very dramatically. There could be a number of reasons for this; I cannot speculate on that. I suspect it is not for the reason that the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, is trying to give from a sedentary position. Emigration has probably come down because there is no longer a Labour Government in power and people want to stay in this country.
Lord Anderson of Swansea
Will the noble Lord confirm that many of those hard-pressed services, including our health service, are in fact provided by immigrants? Will he also say how robust are the efforts to ensure that marriages apparently properly entered into subsist at the end of the relevant period?
Lord Henley
My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Anderson, is right to point out that we owe a lot to immigrants, particularly in those so-called hard-pressed services. However, there are a great many employed people in this country. As he will remember, a previous Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown, made a point of wanting British jobs for British people. Those jobs could be done by people here if they were able to take them up. Regarding the noble Lord’s substantive point about the genuineness of marriage, that is something we want to address and are addressing.
Baroness Hamwee
My Lords, the Office for Budget Responsibility has drawn attention to the link between migration and growth. Its July report on fiscal sustainability mentioned that immigrants are more likely to be of working age than the general population. Will the Minister acknowledge the importance of this factor, given our generally ageing, and therefore less economically productive, society?
Lord Henley
My noble friend makes a very valuable point about the demographic changes we are facing. People have fewer children, we are an ageing population and we live longer. I welcome and acknowledge what she says. However, there is a limit to the number of people we can get into the country and we want to make sure that the net migration figure is sustainable in the long run.
Baroness Prashar
My Lords, does the Minister agree that overseas students are not immigrants and should therefore not be included in the net migration figures?
Lord Henley
The noble Baroness makes a very good point. The changes we are making for overseas students are intended to make sure that they can come here to study and can possible stay on, but we do not want them to bring their families where that is not necessary or to stay on as permanent residents afterwards if that is not appropriate.
Lord Peston
Will the Minister enlighten us on the economics of all this? A great many of his noble friends in this House and his honourable and right honourable friends in the other place claim to be great supporters of free trade and the free market. Will he explain how that is compatible with denying employers and other institutions the right to buy labour services, wherever they might come from, that can be used profitably? Surely supporting the free market means allowing precisely that, and not limiting immigration?
Lord Henley
My Lords, I could, if I had the time—but I do not have the time—give the noble Lord a long lecture on the economics of this.
Lord Henley
Perhaps the noble Lord and I could have a discussion about this at another time and in another place. The simple fact is that some control has to be brought in because the numbers are unsustainable in the long run. The noble Lord does not agree with me; we will have to remain not agreeing on this subject. However, there are limits to the number of people we can fit into the country.
Lord Willoughby de Broke
My Lords, if the aim is to reduce net immigration, will the noble Lord say whether he is going to repatriate the power over immigration from the EU? It would surely help to reduce net immigration if we controlled immigration from the EU.
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
My Lords, on the economics of immigration, is the absurdity of the Government’s position not shown by what has happened in relation to the students whom he mentioned? Already, universities are reporting a downturn in the number of international students coming to this country, causing grave disadvantage to the UK. What does he say to the House when other countries have opened their doors with open arms to such students?
Lord Henley
My Lords, I am not going to take lessons from the noble Lord on the absurdity of our position when the party opposite, when in government, did absolutely nothing to control immigration—nothing whatever. It is right to control the numbers and we will continue to try to do so. It is also right to control the number of students, particularly the number of bogus students coming to bogus colleges who should not be coming in at all.