Points-based Immigration System Debate

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Department: Home Office

Points-based Immigration System

David Davis Excerpts
Monday 24th February 2020

(4 years, 1 month ago)

Commons Chamber
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Priti Patel Portrait Priti Patel
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The right hon. Lady is right about the deadlines and the timeframe for the EU settlement scheme, and also in saying that by January 2021 we will have established the outline—the first phase—of the points-based system. We are in the process of working with employers. Going back to the comment made just now by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood), we are engaging with employers on the system, the sponsorship route and the way in which employers in the UK work with those who will be coming over from the EU next year so that they have that period to confirm their status and carry on working. We are engaging with employers, and that is my answer.

David Davis Portrait Mr David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden) (Con)
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Our excellent Home Secretary had two fundamental questions to answer today: was she going to reflect the democratic will of 70% to 80% of the British public, not to do away with immigration, but to control and manage it properly, and was she going to do it in a way that worked in the national interest, for all of us and all the immigrants who come here to work and give our country the skills that they carry? Is she as surprised as me that the primary thrust of both Opposition spokesmen seems to be to allow British profit-making companies to maximise their access to cheap labour?

Priti Patel Portrait Priti Patel
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In short, I am not surprised by the position that the Opposition have taken, and it shows once again the contempt they have been showing to the British public.