EU Nationals in the UK

Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Keen of Elie

Wednesday 29th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

My Lords, those EU nationals who are resident in the country at the present time can be reassured that there will be no change, as our membership of the EU continues over the next number of years. Nevertheless, as the Prime Minister has made clear, it is for the next Prime Minister and Government to decide when to trigger Article 50 and to carry on the relevant negotiations.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords—

Immigration

Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Keen of Elie

Wednesday 8th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

There is no doubt that the steps taken by this Government and the previous Government post-2010 to deal with bogus colleges has had a major impact on the number of bogus students coming into this country. However, since 2010 the number of genuine students applying to our Russell Group elite universities has increased by more than 30%.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords, is not one of the problems of our EU membership that we cannot keep out an awful lot of people from the European Union because they have a right to come here, and that because we are trying to cut immigration overall, this leads us to keep out an awful lot of people from outside the European Union who we would like to have in?

[Lord Keen of Elie]

That is simply not the case. We control migration—economic migration and other migration—whether from Europe or elsewhere. In the context of the European Union, of course, there are rules and provisions; but in the context of outside Europe, there are also rules and provisions.

Migration

Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Keen of Elie

Monday 6th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

The issues of migration are not national or European but are essentially intercontinental. The tragedies developing in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya merely underline that fact.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch]

My Lords, what did the Government mean when they said in their £9 million propaganda leaflet that if we stay in the EU we will “keep our own border controls”? If that is true, why cannot they fulfil the Prime Minister’s promise to bring immigration down to tens of thousands a year?

[Lord Keen of Elie]

It is necessary to distinguish carefully between border controls and migration. We control our own borders and we determine those who come in and those who do not, whether they come from within the European Community or otherwise; that is quite a distinct issue from the question of migration. We are already dealing with migration by seeking to address the extent of economic migration and we are determined in our ambition to bring it down to the tens of thousands.

Refugees: Unaccompanied Children

Debate between Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Lord Keen of Elie

Tuesday 10th May 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Keen of Elie]

I am not aware of direct contact with the Canadian authorities on that point, but I undertake to write to the noble Baroness on the matter.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

In thinking of our long-term counterterrorism strategy, and bearing in mind the example of the Sikh community, about which we have just heard, are the Government planning to provide an exceptional education for the Muslims among these children—teaching them, for instance, not to follow the Muslim tenets of abrogation and Al-Hijra, and thus to become leaders of integration within our society?

[Lord Keen of Elie]

These children, we hope, will be fostered along with British children and educated alongside British children, and we believe that they will acquire the same outlook and values.