Speeches by Tapp.

“I thank the hon. Member for her contribution. I absolutely disagree with the framing that we are not taking this issue seriously. We are here today having a debate, and on top of that we are working day in, day out to fix the immigration system that we inherited. Deportations, removals and asylum processing are up, and…”

“I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his well-made points. I disagree that those important diplomatic relations and agreements are hollow, but I will take away the point about the Irish border and feed it back to officials. That is disturbing, and of course I absolutely disagree with it. I turn briefly to our work on i…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Stringer. I congratulate the hon. Member for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart) on securing this debate on a topic of great significance. We have had a number of contributions, and I am grateful for them all. I respect the valid concerns and absolutely agree that having th…”

“Sitting suspended.”

“[Sir Jeremy Wright in the Chair]”

“I thank the hon. Member for her questions. On the first one, tech at the border is under continuous review, I meet with officials on a regular basis to look at friction rates, data and stats. We can adjust accordingly if needed in future. Those are under continuous review. On the anti-slavery question and whether there…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) (Amendment) Order 2026. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mr Betts. Lowering the e-gate age to eight is a logical next step in realising our vision for the future border and is an extension of existing Gove…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his pertinent question. Our best mitigation to counter any safeguarding concerns is our Border Force officers. Officers will continue to be deployed to provide a visible presence to counter risks and interact with passengers should any safeguarding concerns arise. Border Force will continue …”

“Committee rose.”

“That sounds like a fantastic restaurant. As the Home Secretary has already laid out, there are around 1 million young people currently out of education, employment or training. We are creating a system that is firm, protects the economy, protects welfare from rising further and avoids more pressure on our social housin…”

“Our immigration system must operate in a way that attracts the best and the brightest. Earned settlement will reward those who integrate and contribute to this country, with shorter pathways for higher earners and those in public service roles among others. We are carefully considering responses to our public consultat…”

“Living in this country permanently is a privilege, one that should be earned, not granted by default. We are currently analysing 200,000 consultation responses, and we expect to introduce major reforms in the autumn.”

“Under the previous Government, we saw 2.5 million people arrive in just four years—that is one in 30 people in the country at this time. This Government have brought migration down by 82% since its peak and by 41% in the past year.”

“As of January 2026, 222,000 people with ILR were actively claiming universal credit.”

“I thank the hon. Member for his question—as a veteran, it is an important question, and I respect it. I am working with colleagues in the Ministry of Defence at the moment to deliver that important manifesto commitment.”

“It is important that we continue our strategy to bring net migration down while also maintaining agricultural industries. I have met a number of people across the sector and of course I am happy to meet my hon. Friend after questions.”

“I will touch on it very quickly. I think “loophole” is a misrepresentation; I think it is an abuse of the system. We have new guidance, which came out in March, but there are other abuses—for example, those who say that they are gay when they are not—and we are ensuring that we deal with that. I will conclude now, with…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again, Mr Stuart. I congratulate the hon. Member for Mid Bedfordshire (Blake Stephenson) on securing this important, wide-ranging and interesting debate. We inherited a difficult system from the previous Government. At its peak, net migration hit nearly 1 million in one…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his important question. It is right that we keep the public informed of what we are doing. In the current atmosphere, there is a lot of misinformation. When we tell the public that there are deportations and removals going on, we are simply not believed—that is the climate that we currently …”

“I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. I am conscious that I only have two minutes before having to hand back—”