Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Bone Excerpts

Monday 5th September 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

8. What assessment she has made of recent trends in the level of immigration.

[Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)]

17. What plans her Department has to reduce net migration.

[The Minister for Immigration (Mr Robert Goodwill)]

The latest figures show that the reforms we have made to cut abuse across non-EU visa routes and toughen welfare provisions are working. Reducing the number of migrants coming to the UK will be a priority for the negotiations to leave the European Union.

[Mr Goodwill]

We are committed to bringing down net migration to sustainable levels as soon as possible. It will take time to do so, because until we leave the European Union we will still be affected by the free movement rules, but we are doing everything we can now to ensure that the numbers come down. At every step of the negotiations we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people and it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance of that.

[Mr Bone]

I welcome the new Minister, who probably has the most difficult job in Government. He will be a national hero when he reduces immigration to the tens of thousands. Will he tell the House how he is going to work with the Department for Exiting the European Union?

[Mr Goodwill]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question; we may have been on different sides of the referendum campaign, but we are quite clearly all on the same side now in delivering the result for the British people. The Home Office will be the lead Department in negotiations on this, but we look forward to working with the Brexit Department, and I suspect that the Prime Minister may be taking an interest, given her experience in the Home Office.