Speeches by Mahmood.

“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—”

“I think we’ve had a lot of dodgy providers in this area. That is why we have closed the route and revoked so many sponsor licences. As the rules were changed and we started to look at medium and lower-skilled migrants, it was obvious that those new routes were open to abuse. It is one of the reasons why, going back to …”

“That is not what was said to me.”

“One subcontractor has been removed. I am not able to give too many details, because of commercial and legal sensitivities, but one subcontractor has been removed. I do think that contract management has improved. There is a much tighter grip at the Department on the day-to-day management of those contracts, and the fac…”

“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…”

“What you are describing is the core of what the ultimate treaty intended to try to achieve, but to get there, those are much bigger numbers, and they would be challenging both for us and the French. That is why the agreement stops—”

“Let me deal with both parts of that question. On the first one, there are problems in the north of France. It is not simply a case of, “Don’t worry—their end destination is somewhere else and they cause us no trouble while they are here.” There are real community cohesion problems in the north of France. There are issu…”

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

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

“I am afraid I do not have that exact date to hand. I do not want to give you an incorrect date, but it was understood throughout that—”

“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—”

“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…”

“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…”

“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. …”

“There is a respect for operational independence that, in the current arrangements, does have to be observed. Once the decision was made, we of course asked West Midlands police, “Is there a way of mitigating the risks you say exist, that we could assist with, that would allow this match to go ahead in the way that we w…”

“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…”

“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.”

“Yes, and that is the point that I am making. It has been assessed on the rules that are enforced at the point of application for many years. That is not a new change; it is not a thing that we have just done that is different. It has been tested in court in the past; there is 2009 case law on this point. It is the rule…”

“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.”

“If you will let me finish my point, the new model in its totality is designed to ensure that community policing does not suffer from peaks in demand elsewhere. It is designed to do what happens everywhere in Greater Manchester, where you have a reasonably large force that is not encumbered with significant national res…”