Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Under-Secretary of State of 11 June 2020, Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill (fourth sitting), Official Report, column 123, if she will publish the evidential basis for the Government's view that unrestricted access to employment opportunities for asylum seekers may also act as an incentive for more people to choose to come here illegally.

There is already published, independent evidence showing that good economic conditions and essential services can create an incentive for people to choose to go to a particular country illegally. This is because it is easier to work under such conditions – and we cannot ignore that access to the labour market is among the reasons that so many people choose to come to the UK illegally, rather than remain in any of the countries through which they transit.

That is why it is important to distinguish between those who need protection and those seeking to work here, who can apply for a work visa under the Immigration Rules. Our wider policy could be undermined if migrants bypassed work visa Rules by lodging unfounded asylum claims here.