Nationality and Borders Bill
Debate between Baroness Lister of Burtersett and Lord Hunt of WirralTuesday 1st February 2022
(2 years, 10 months ago)
Lords ChamberRead Full debate Nationality and Borders Act 2022 View all Nationality and Borders Act 2022 Debates Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts Amendment Paper: HL Bill 82-III Third marshalled list for Committee - (1 Feb 2022)
Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)
As with all questions affecting our colleagues in France, it is very difficult to answer that.
Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Lab)
My Lords, what evidence are the French basing this view on? The academic evidence that I am aware of, and certainly the evidence that the JCHR draws attention to, does not support the view that public funds, or welfare more widely, somehow acts as a pull factor. The pull factors were set out by the noble Baroness, Lady Stroud —family commitments, language and so on—and the evidence shows that the push factors are much more important. I would be very interested to know what evidence the French base this on because it may well be just reading our newspapers, which is probably not very good evidence.
Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)
Would the noble Baroness, Lady Lister, please ask the French?