Baggy Shanker
Main Page: Baggy Shanker (Labour (Co-op) - Derby South)Department Debates - View all Baggy Shanker's debates with the Home Office
Immigration Reforms
Baggy Shanker Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)
I am pleased to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer.
People in my constituency and, I think, right across the country are clear: they want an immigration system that is fair, but one that is controlled and works in the national interest. That is exactly what this Labour Government, led by the Home Secretary, intend to deliver.
Baggy Shanker (Derby South) (Lab/Co-op)
On the point of fairness, constituents in Derby tell me that they are working hard to make a living and put their kids through school, but they are worried by retrospective changes to ILR. Does my hon. Friend agree that, to make the system completely fair, changes to ILR should not be retrospective?
Steve Yemm
I have met many people living in my constituency—workers from west Africa and from Asia—who make that case to me. I have written to the Home Secretary to support that case, and I hope the Government will look at the results of the consultation and think carefully about transitional arrangements for people who have been in the UK, working quite properly, for some time.
At the same time, as the Home Secretary has set out, it is important to recognise that the Government are restoring both control over the system and compassion. It is important not to choose one over the other, but to deliver both together. As a Government, we are taking decisive action to stop abuse of the system, and we will save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds as a result. It is important to recognise that we are introducing a system where refugee status is not automatically permanent, but—