Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Edward Leigh Excerpts
Monday 2nd June 2025

(4 days, 14 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lindsay Hoyle Portrait Mr Speaker
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I call the Father of the House.

Edward Leigh Portrait Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)
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Could I be counterintuitive for a moment and make a New Labour point? The cause of a lot of illegal migration is the fact that it is easier to work here illegally than anywhere else in Europe, and that is because we do not have national identity cards. The Gordon Brown Government, quite wisely, were going to bring them in, and the coalition Government wrongly stopped that idea. Why should we not have national consensus now on bringing in national identity cards, given that we all carry mobile phones? It would dramatically reduce illegal working.

Angela Eagle Portrait Dame Angela Eagle
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I am reeling at the New Labour point that the Father of the House has made. E-visas basically give us the capacity to do a similar thing, and they are easily checked, which is why, in the border security Bill, we are extending those checks to the gig and zero-hours economy.