Speeches by Mahmood.

“An application is assessed based on the rules that were in force at the point at which the application is made, not what the rules were when the person came to the country.”

“Again, this a system of economic migration. It is right for the state to expect people who are coming here to work to be able to support themselves and, if they choose to bring their families with them, that they will be able to support their families as well. The system is designed to make sure that people are working…”

“Yes, it is when you apply.”

“We are consulting on the precise nature of whether to look at changing the rules on settlement and recourse to public funds, which would of course require primary legislation, or whether to simply extend the qualifying period to beyond 10 years for particular cohorts of lower-skilled workers. That is an open question, …”

“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…”

“The two are related.”

“At the moment, once you are here there are still mandatory requirements to fulfil before you get settlement, but it is much more of an automatic process, I guess. Beyond that, I think it is a year to citizenship after you have settled status. They are quite quick processes actually, but I am not seeking to limit the nu…”

“In the consultation, we ask a specific question on transitional arrangements. Obviously, there are going to be knock-on impacts from any of these changes. On the mandatory economic contribution, we are looking at just the threshold for paying national insurance contributions: it is quite low, actually. One of the criti…”

“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…”

“No, it is our ability to get people on a plane and get them back to France. We are having claims all the time. On our side, we have had practical and legal hurdles to overcome; on the French side, there are practical hurdles to overcome as well.”

“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…”

“Well, we are talking about a system of economic migration, so I think it would be odd to say that we are not looking at earnings. You are looking for people to come and work, and the intention is that they can support themselves. You are not looking to bring in people who will ultimately require assistance from the wel…”

“Yes, and I understand that, but I repeat that under the previous Government there was an expected market shortage for social care workers of between 6,000 and 40,000. That is quite a big range, which tells you that there is unreliability in the understanding of exactly what the needs of that part of the workforce are. …”

“We are very committed to opening up new safe and legal routes. We have obviously set out proposals for specific routes for workers and students, and the third part of that is a new community sponsorship model to be able to bring refugees into the country. We are designing and consulting with people as we speak, and we …”

“Again, we have published the consultation. There has been some helpful discussion around whether you look purely at individuals’ earnings or at household income potentially. It is not unusual, in our arrangements, to consider the income of a whole household as opposed to just one or two individuals within it. Again, th…”

“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 …”

“Look, I think we are just going to have to have a point of disagreement between us, but as I say, I have asked for an independent review of those contracts. It will report to me with findings. We do not need a break clause to get out of hotels, which I know is the thing that has caused the outcry about people profiteer…”

“The first thing I would say on large sites is that we are in a better position partly because of all the mistakes that have been made in the past. There have been a lot of lessons to learn from previous attempts to move into large sites.”

“Look, I will want to make sure that we are getting value for money and making as many savings as possible, so I would not say that the £1.1 billion is it—that once we have done that, we can all go home and that we won’t be worrying about savings any more. I will want to go further if we can. We have a particular number…”

“I have been over twice myself to meet my French counterpart—I should say counterparts, because they changed in between. I have met both the Interior Ministers that have served since I have been in the Home Office. We are in regular discussion with colleagues in France. We are obviously renegotiating the so-called Sandh…”