Speeches by Tapp.

“I would urge a meeting on Monday to go through the details of this, rather than trying to break it down in the glare of the public eye.”

“We cannot open ETAs to British citizens for the reasons I explained in my statement. The turnaround time on these applications is good; we are looking at within four weeks and, on average, nine days, but as I have said to many Members, please do bring that specific case to the drop-in.”

“We are modernising across the board. I will not make any new announcements in response to this urgent question, but the modernisation of the border includes digitisation, which will impact all of us positively.”

“I thank the hon. Member for his question. I will ignore the rant about Brexit—we are well past that. Whenever anyone in this House, in the Gallery or at home seeks to travel, the first place they should go is the Government website, to receive travel advice. We do not hold a database of dual-national citizens, so it is…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her question; it is important, and well done to her for standing up so well for her constituents. Again, I ask that she drops into my session on Monday—civil servants will be there as well—and we can ensure that the right advice is issued, but at this point that there is information on the Go…”

“I find the framing of this absolutely absurd—it is nonsense. There have been years in planning from the officials and Ministers. As I said, this has been in the public domain for some years. For those looking to travel for emergencies, there are emergency travel documents, and I urge them to explore that through the Go…”

“My suggestion at this point is that my hon. Friend’s constituents visit the Government website and call the support line to see what advice can be offered. I cannot go into specific details right now about that case, but if she comes to my drop-in session on Monday, where there will also be officials, we can deal with …”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I cannot set out the exact details right now, but I can say that this is to ensure that we are recouping the costs of individual routes and that each individual route will have different costs to it. I can come back to him with further detail and break that down after the debate…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Immigration and Nationality (Fees) (Amendment) Order 2026. It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. The draft order sets out the immigration and nationality functions for which a fee is to be charged, and the maximum amount—or maxima—that …”

“I will first answer hon. Members’ questions. On how the funding is used, I am sure the hon. Member for Rutland and Stamford would not expect me to lay out today how the Home Office will spend its budgets beyond what has already been announced. On whether there will be any future fee increases, of course that will be ke…”

“When migrants enter the UK on economic routes, it is expected that they will be able to support their families. We are maintaining that principle, and it is right that we look into how we can do so better in response to circumstances. We will continue to ensure that migrant children are considered when we make decision…”

“We understand how important the details of the proposals are to people, and that is precisely why the Government opened a public consultation to gather views on those proposals. Once the consultation closes, we will analyse those responses, which will help to inform the development of the final earned settlement model.…”

“I thank the hon. Member for that good point. I do not have those numbers to hand, but I will write to him with that data, if we have it. We do have data for those leaving the country in general, but I will certainly look into that. The UK and the USA are connected in myriad ways. As we know, the ties between our two co…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship again, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) for securing the debate, and I am grateful for her contribution and the others we have heard. When it comes to detailed examination of foreign policy and the United Kingdom’s relationship w…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his point. I cannot comment on the individual case, because I am not aware of that. The ILR changes that we are making are broad. We had a long debate on that the other day, but it is not there in any way to dissuade talent. Actually, post consultation, we are highly likely to see discounts f…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his points. We are world leading in science. The visa system that we have created in the Home Office is there precisely to attract the top talent from across the whole world, and of course that includes the USA. We are committed to going further, as I have already laid out. To support the Go…”

“I have not in any way implied that all migrants go into social housing. My point was the increase of 2.2 million people who would have access to it, with 1.34 million already on the waiting list and our ambition to build just 1.5 million homes in that picture. That simply is not enough, and that is just on social housi…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his intervention. He is right that most migrants are not criminals. Most migrants are thoroughly decent people, and that is recognised by this Government and, of course, by the Home Office. On the volunteering side of things, I will say again that this process is still a consultation and tha…”

“I disagree. There is nothing in my language that is raising the temperature. The hon. Member would do well to listen to my praise of migrants in my contribution. I have made it clear that I do not think that all those who seek to settle would seek to access the welfare system and housing system, but it is quite clear t…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for making that good point, which we in the Home Office have discussed in detail many times. Indeed, that is why the issue is under consultation. It is subjective, it is complex and right now I cannot give him a definitive answer. However, we will reach one, and announce it in due course.”