Immigration: Housing

Lord Pearson of Rannoch Excerpts

Thursday 19th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, the noble Baroness brings up a valuable point. Let us be clear: migration has contributed massively to the quality and diversity of life in this country. It is certainly not true to say that immigration has led to a drain on our resources.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords, do the Government believe our National Health Service and our social care arrangements can survive—

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock]

Without migrants?

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords, I have never denied that we need migrants; it is just that we do not want to go on letting in Bulgarian and Romanian gangsters at their will. Do the Government believe our NHS and social care can survive this sort of increase with their present funding arrangements, or do we have to consider something more radical for the longer term?

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth]

My Lords, if I may try to address the joint question asked by the noble Lords, Lord Pearson and Lord Foulkes, it is certainly the case that across broad sections of public life, certainly including the NHS, we are heavily dependent on people from the immigrant communities. There is no doubt about that. Net migration will probably fall as a result of Brexit, but it will be some time before that happens. Still, we face all sorts of challenges in seeking to address that.