Legal and Illegal Migration: Suspension

Debate between Richard Tice and Rupa Huq
Monday 10th March 2025

(3 weeks ago)

Westminster Hall
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Carla Denyer Portrait Carla Denyer
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It was funded very well as well.

Rupa Huq Portrait Dr Rupa Huq (in the Chair)
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Order. Through the Chair, please.

Richard Tice Portrait Richard Tice
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It was working well, and we had people coming from around the world to help the NHS—but we were training our own, and that was a great thing. That comes back to the point that what has happened in the past 15 years is the complete failure to deliver for population growth at every level. The madness of the cap on training our own people who want to be nurses or doctors—it is absolutely ludicrous. We encouraged businesses in that by saying, “You do not need to invest in training. You can just bring in people from overseas.”

What happened? That brought in low-skilled, lower-cost labour from overseas, and we were told by the authorities, the ONS and the Office for Budget Responsibility or its predecessors, that that would be a good thing for the country. Now, we have been told by the OBR, which has just caught up with things, that lower-skilled and lower-cost labour never contributes financially to the economy more than it takes out.