Meeting of the Parliament 21 January 2016
I am pleased to speak in the debate.
Members will not be surprised to hear that I simply do not recognise much of the characterisation of the UK Government’s Immigration Bill that Christian Allard set out in his motion and in his speech. I respect him, but I think that he is talking nonsense.
The UK Government was elected with an overall majority in last year’s general election on a very strong platform of reforming our immigration laws and putting right an immigration system that was left in chaos by the previous Government. It has a clear mandate for the legislation, which is part of its efforts to get a grip on the immigration system. Its approach has widespread public support across the UK, including in Scotland, and a great deal of support across the rest of Europe.
The Immigration Bill has three clear aims: to tackle illegal working and labour market abuses; to ensure that only migrants who are lawfully present in the UK can access services such as those that allow people to drive on our roads and use UK bank accounts; and to make it easier to remove illegal migrants from the UK. Surely all of us support those objectives.