Outcome of the EU Referendum

Gavin Shuker Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

What this Government have delivered for Scotland is record rates of employment growth and business growth as part of a successful economy. The people of the United Kingdom have decided to take a different path with respect to Europe, but we must do all we can to continue to safeguard the economies of all the countries of the United Kingdom.

[Mr Gavin Shuker (Luton South) (Lab/Co-op)]

As anyone who played an active role in the remain campaign will know, immigration was the top concern for a huge number of people who voted leave because they believed that the renegotiation would lead to the ending of free movement. I regret that, but does the Prime Minister believe that if those who inherit this situation try to airbrush that out, it will end in tears?

[The Prime Minister]

As I have said, I think that one of the most difficult decisions for a future Government will be how to balance access to the single market—the best we can get—with decisions about immigration. I do not know what exact answer can be found. The answer I found was welfare reform, which was bold and brave because it meant reducing welfare payments to newly arrived migrants. Those changes will now not go ahead, so that extra draw will continue for the next couple of years, but we have to find an answer to that problem. In a way, that is the puzzle we have now been set by the British people, which is, “We want access to the single market and we recognise the economic argument, but you’ve got to do better when it comes to immigration.”