Immigration

Lord Roberts of Conwy Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Roberts of Conwy]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce net immigration.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Henley)]

My Lords, we are committed to reducing net migration to tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands, by the end of this Parliament. We have already introduced an annual limit on the number of non-EU workers, overhauled the student visa route and increased enforcement activity. Our next steps are to break the link between temporary and permanent migration by restricting settlement rights and to reform family migration.

[Lord Roberts of Conwy]

I am glad to hear that very positive response. With immigration in the last calendar year running at 591,000, and in this year to March at only 9,000 fewer, is it not imperative that we do all that we can to reduce immigration for the sake of everyone already here and relying on our hard-pressed services, and to keep the total population from reaching the projected high of 70 million about 16 years from now?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, we are trying to reduce the net migration figures—that is, the difference between immigration and emigration. I stress that we believe that immigration enriches the country and we owe a lot to all those who have come and who will come to this country. However, there must be limits, and it must be sustainable. We have seen a smallish drop in net migration, but it is not as small as it should be. That is partly because emigration seems to have gone down very dramatically. There could be a number of reasons for this; I cannot speculate on that. I suspect it is not for the reason that the noble Lord, Lord Tomlinson, is trying to give from a sedentary position. Emigration has probably come down because there is no longer a Labour Government in power and people want to stay in this country.