Brexit Negotiations and No Deal Contingency Planning

Gareth Snell Excerpts

Tuesday 4th September 2018 Commons Chamber

[Dominic Raab]

On data adequacy, we have made progress in the talks—that is one issue I covered in my opening statement and it has also been welcomed by Michel Barnier. On immigration and free movement, we want to make sure we have a balanced approach, within our control, so that we not only get the benefits that allow us to address shortages in the labour market, which the hon. Lady has described, but we can control the overall volume of immigration and the associated costs and pressures.

[Gareth Snell (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Chequers proposal includes a migration framework that would endow EU and UK citizens with the rights to live, work and study in each other’s territories. Will the Secretary of State outline how that agreement would be fundamentally and tangibly different from the current rules on freedom of movement?

[Dominic Raab]

The hon. Gentleman has got the wrong end of the stick, as he will see if he looks at the proposals. We are ending free movement. We will take back control over our immigration policy and our border controls, but that does not mean we are advocating pulling up a drawbridge. In certain areas, whether allowing the recruitment of top talent to service business contracts, business trips, family holidays or student exchanges, we want to make sure movement from the UK to the EU and vice versa can be preserved and protected. That is not the kind of thing that erodes public confidence in our immigration system. But by taking back control over our immigration policy as a whole, we can take a balanced and responsible approach, and he should welcome that.