Speeches by Mahmood.

“I am not, as you will know, able to see the papers of the previous Government, so, being in the building now, it is difficult for me to see exactly what was happening under the previous Administration. I would say that the publicly available numbers showed a big increase. As a constituency Member of Parliament, I was s…”

“We have already announced that we want to go from a baseline five-year qualifying period to 10 years, which we are not consulting on. We have a relatively generous welfare state. Five years is actually quite a short period before people can be permanently settled in the country, with all the benefits that brings. It is…”

“It is inconceivable that they wouldn’t have been aware at all. Obviously, it would be for them to explain what exactly they knew and when, but even if you just go by the information that was publicly available, in which you could see the big growths in net migration, I think it became very clear very quickly that there…”

“The consultation asks a very open question about whether the way to manage this part of the problem is to change what is available to you once you get settled status, versus just extending the qualifying period. There are pros and cons to both. On that particular question, the consultation is, and I am personally, very…”

“As I have said already, we have had a very large number of people arrive in the country, much more than were expected, in an unprecedented way. It does demand an answer from the Government because, potentially without any changes, a very large number of people—1.6 million, on our central estimate—would become eligible …”

“What I have asked for are policy proposals to try to meet the challenge we have. What we set out in the consultation is a new way of thinking about how settlement is earned in this country, how we might reward the behaviours we want to see, and how we add on more time for people if, for example, they end up accessing b…”

“I think a lot of evidence has been given to the Committee about various email exchanges and conversations that took place. I do not believe that much will be added to that but, of course, if it can be, I will make sure it is.”

“I am sure that my officials are watching and will be able to respond. But evidence on this exact point has been given before to your Committee by the director general who was responsible for this.”

“Look, I can write back to the Committee. I don’t believe the evidence is going to go further than what you have already heard directly from—”

“As late as 15 October, it was still said to Home Office officials that all options were on the table.”

“That is not what was said to me.”

“It is my understanding that even on 15 October, in an email exchange, it was still believed that all options were on the table. I think my officials were trying to get information all the way through about what was going on. The possibility was raised on 8 October, and there is the email exchange about all options—”

“We obviously want to be able to ultimately break this business model. We are interested in all and any mechanisms that we have at our disposal to do that. It requires co-operation with international partners. We are in the middle of a negotiation at the moment, and I will not—”

“Well, we have taken out of scope of the consultation those who are in care or who have arrived unaccompanied in the country. There were a set of commitments made in the immigration White Paper by my predecessor, Yvette Cooper, on children who have been here for most of their lives and who only at 18 discover that they …”

“Evidence has already been given to the Committee about what was said in front of me on 8 October—”

“The reforms for settlement are precipitated by the issues in relation to the scale and pace of recent migration into the country. Between 2021 and 2024, net migration stood at 2.6 million people, which means that around one in every 30 people in this country today arrived in those four years. We have seen particular is…”

“I would not say it is deterrence. There is a particular issue where we have seen migration into the country on a very large scale—much more than was expected—and of a very different nature to what we have had before, both in terms of the skills range and the number of dependants. Something like 50% of the care work num…”

“No, I disagree. If you look at our paper on the new proposals for settlement, the intention is to restore the element of contribution at the heart of the system. I think that our country is full of very tolerant and generous people—we are very open—but I think there is a condition to that, which is about contribution. …”

“I would dispute that net migration is at very low levels. It is still really quite high. It has had a big drop from the very large increases that you saw under the previous Administration, but it is still comfortably over 200,000, which is still quite high on any measure. When I first came into Parliament, back in the …”

“That is exactly what we are consulting on. We know that we will need to develop careful pathways to deal with the particular issue of children. We will want to look at those who are older versus those who are younger in this new system. Obviously, the policy is still being designed, and we are very open to what the con…”