Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules

Baroness Hamwee Excerpts

Tuesday 14th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

This is an important debate on an important issue. The case has been made by every speaker so far making detailed points on the policies and the problems that they create. I want to put on record my concern and my support for the comments that have been made by my noble friends and other Members of the House.

Although much of the debate has focused on specific problems and the specifics of the proposal, I think a view should be taken of the proposals as a whole. There are some necessary changes, and we know what they are, but taken as a whole we have to ask ourselves whether this the sort of country we want to be. To me, the answer is no. I just want to make that general point and put it on record.

The second issue—and I think this has come out clearly from the debate, particularly from the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Kerr of Kinlochard—is that the whole process of us being here at 10.10 pm on a Tuesday night with unwhipped business means that this debate has not had the significance that it should have done. It is only those who have strong feelings about this issue who have come. The whole process, the fact that there was no debate in the Commons, and this archaic process we have landed ourselves with—I know it is only from 1971—is totally inappropriate to the task at hand. The review of immigration laws, which is a big political issue in this country, should not have been handled in this way.

[Baroness Hamwee (LD)]

My Lords, I do not expect that my first point will gain overwhelming sympathy, but the challenge of following the detail of changes in Immigration Rules—it is not particular to this Statement of Changes—about what is in effect, whether there is a discretion in the hands of the Home Secretary and all of that is considerable. The impact on people directly affected, or who believe they are affected, or who are anxious about becoming affected in the future, is also considerable. There can be no doubt about the level of anxiety—our inboxes bear witness to that.

There is also—this is a point that may not gain sympathy—the impact on professionals, as well as on the organisations working in the immigration and refugee fields. It is not just support and assistance for which they are relied on. My guess is that the complexity, indeed the near impenetrability, of the rules current at any given time—to which one adds the decisions of tribunals and the higher courts—is a deterrent to lawyers entering into this area of work, and then of course there are the legal aid rates. All that makes it the more difficult for applicants to access support and representation.