Immigration and Asylum

Alison Thewliss Excerpts

1st reading
Wednesday 22nd May 2024 Commons Chamber

[Alison Thewliss (Glasgow Central) (SNP)]

I stand to speak to this motion on behalf of the SNP—but not on behalf of the Lib Dems, who have clearly chickened out and run away, and not for the first time.

I am very proud to say that I support immigration, which is an economic good. We thank people for coming here and contributing their best talents and skills to this country—they contribute so very much. It is an act of absolutely bizarre economic damage to try to restrict their numbers in the way that the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Bob Seely) has set out in his ten-minute rule motion.

The issue that we have had for many years in Scotland has been emigration, not immigration. Immigration is an essential part of a thriving economy. Scotland is set to experience considerable population decline in the absence of net international migration, and that will have a significant impact on our economy, because the people who come to work here contribute. They pay the pensions of our older people, they look after people, and they contribute and bring their skills to our economy. They are welcome and we should not tell them otherwise.

The hon. Member’s Bill, in seeking to put a cap on the number of people coming, should really be entitled the “Cutting off our nose to spite our face” Bill. A cap on numbers is entirely illogical and impractical. If he said the cap was 1,000 people, he would shut the door on the 1,001st, regardless of what talent and skills they may bring and the economic benefits or otherwise they may generate. That is absolutely illogical. He mentioned that people bring him their concerns about migration, but the evidence is that people consistently get migration numbers wrong. It is our job as MPs to inform people, not to pander to some of their worst prejudices.

It is also the case that people in areas with the lowest migration seem bizarrely to fear it most, whereas those who are fortunate enough to live in constituencies such as Glasgow Central welcome migration because they see its benefits. It is absolutely bizarre. In work published in recent days, Migration Policy Scotland says that people’s views of migration remain more positive than negative. The hon. Member does not speak for us when he talks about the will of the people of Scotland. He does not and cannot speak for the people of Scotland, who thank those who come here to work and contribute in whichever way they do.

The hon. Member also talked about pressure on health services. Again, the reality is that we are more likely to be treated by a migrant than to be in the queue next to one. People come here to work in our health and social care sector, and we thank them for it, because the sector faces significant shortages and we need them desperately. It is not the case that people migrating to this country suppress wage growth. In fact, countries with higher immigration than us have higher wage growth than the pathetic and insipid wage growth that broke Brexit Britain has had, so he is wrong about that.

We have significant labour shortages in the UK as a result of the Conservatives’ ridiculous Brexit policies. The Office for National Statistics says that a third of UK businesses are experiencing labour shortages, which has an impact on productivity. Sectors such as hospitality, farming, health and social care, professional services and scientific and technical services are crying out for skills—skills that we do not have. If the hon. Member had come here to argue for further investment in education and universities, which the Tories have cut back over many years, I would have been interested in that argument, but that is not what he is saying. He is saying, “Turn off the tap and everything will be fine,” which could not be further from the truth.

Let me turn to the point about the graduate visa and international students. My Glasgow Central constituency is the one that most benefits from international students. I see very clearly that international students bring significant benefit. There has been much chat about the graduate visa and, although the Migration Advisory Committee did not approve of its introduction in the first place, it has said that the UK Government should keep it. Unlike any other UK Government policy, that one has actually been a roaring success, having met and exceeded its targets, so of course, perversely, Tory Members want to scrap it. You couldnae make this up.

The changes that the Conservatives have made in removing dependants from visas have already knocked 0.5% off our GDP. If they continue down that road, they will see further economic damage, as well as significant damage to our educational institutions, because the fact that those institutions require international students has been built into their model over many years. The policy also benefits our students, who can sit next to international students in classes, and learn from them and grow. International students bring so much by way of their experience, as well as helping financially.

The UK is already 300,000 workers short as a result of the Conservatives’ damaging Brexit policies. That shortfall is not being made up because of the poor decisions that the Government are making in pursuing the end of free movement, which the Labour party also believes in. They are damaging the economy of Scotland, which did not vote for Brexit, because of their ideological obsession.

The hon. Member has talked about the role of the UNHCR. I am not sure that he has actually spoken to the UNHCR, because what he has described is not its job—that is not what it does. Its role is not to determine who is a refugee and who is not. In very limited circumstances, the UNHCR operates a resettlement policy, but it says itself that resettlement is “the rare exception”: it is available to fewer than 1% of refugees worldwide, and a very small number have arrived in the UK through resettlement programmes. That is why we have an asylum system in the country just now. It is very poorly run, and if the hon. Gentleman wants to make an argument about reforming the Home Office and its terrible policies, I would support him, but that is not what he is saying. He seems to be suggesting that the Home Office’s immigration policy areas should be removed altogether and handed over to an international organisation to determine. Again, I do not think that is quite what he means, but that is what he is saying.

The UNCHR has a very important role. It carries out international functions; it has also very damningly criticised the UK Government’s immigration policies, including the Rwanda plans and others. However, the hon. Gentleman is asking the UNHCR to do a job that is not its job, which just points to the ludicrousness and unenforceability of the Bill that he seeks to introduce today. It is simply not practical.

The Bill speaks to a very small and narrow group of people within the Conservative party and in the rest of the UK: people who want to close the doors, pull up the drawbridge and let nobody into little Brexit Britain. The hon. Gentleman does not speak for Scotland. Scotland wants to be part of the world and to decide these policies for ourselves—yes, to have a migration policy that decides who comes in and who does not, but not to shut the door, nor to pretend that by doing so, Britain will somehow be some special little land that it once was.

Britain has always welcomed people from around the world, and also has a legacy of going out into the world—empire and everything else. We have those links. We want Scotland to be that international country, but Britain is holding us back, preventing us from allowing people into our country and having the migration policy that we need. I have supported the devolution of migration policy, but I cannot wait for the day when we get full control over all policies, so that Scotland’s economy and future can be in Scotland’s hands, rather than those of a Westminster Government who do not see our needs, do not recognise what we as a country want, and do not speak for us, either at home or on the international stage.

Question put (Standing Order No. 23).