Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that there are important benefits to be gained from controlled immigration? However, is he aware that net migration at its current level is well above the high migration scenario of the official population projections? Does he recognise that that implies an increase in our population of half a million every year, of which 75% will be due to future...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I will focus on free movement. As the noble Baroness, Lady Morgan of Ely, remarked, this is not an issue to be ducked and I very much hope that it will not be ducked in this House. To my regret, my remarks will be rather critical. My regret is because I believe that, in regard of immigration, our country owes a considerable debt to the Prime Minister. In the face of strong and...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I will contribute a slightly wider point to the discussion. It is surely clear to all of us that a substantial number of people would like to come to this country and work illegally. As the Home Office will confirm, nearly half of those who apply for asylum have previously been working illegally and apply only when discovered. We have literally thousands of people queueing up in...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Alton, made the best case that could possibly have been made for his amendment. He was very effectively supported by many others: the noble Lord, Lord Roberts, and the noble Baronesses, Lady Lister and Lady Neuberger. Clearly, there is, if you like, a human case to be heard and I am glad that it has been heard. But again, if I may say so, there are some wider...
Lord Green of Deddington: The point is that 50% of those who claim asylum were working when they were discovered.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I take a different view on this and I do not apologise for doing so. I accept that the motivation is entirely well intended but I fear that it is completely impractical. Anyone who has been involved in issuing visas overseas will be astonished by this proposal. It would provide what will be seen by many as a wide-open door to the UK. Earlier, the question was raised as to why the...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 2 March (HL Deb, col 928), whether they now plan to make an estimate of the likely impact on migration from the rest of the EU of the restrictions to in-work benefits that were agreed in the decision of the European Council concerning a new settlement for the UK within the EU.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I would like to speak briefly to Clause 42. The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, spoke powerfully and from long experience, and that has to be respected. However, it is troubling that he suggested that the police cannot be trusted to enforce a carefully drawn law. I entirely endorse what the noble Lord, Lord Deben, said on that subject. I remind the House that the major purpose of the Bill...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I share the doubts expressed about Amendment 84 by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. We need to be clear on what is at stake here. It is not simply the number of weeks that someone is held in detention, important though that is. The capability to remove those who have no right to be in this country is absolutely fundamental to the credibility of the...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 2 March (HL Deb, col 928), how many of those families of EU migrants in the UK that are supported by the benefits system, and which include at least one member who has arrived in the last four years, include (1) an adult member recorded for these purposes as of UK nationality, and (2) an adult member recorded for...
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by Lord Faulks on 2 March (HL Deb, col 928), how many of those families of EU migrants in the UK that are supported by the benefits system receive child benefit alone.
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, this is a very difficult issue. The heart indeed speaks strong and it beats particularly strong, it seems, in this Chamber, but we also have to think it through a little. I entirely understand the good intentions behind the amendment, and nobody is better placed than the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, to propose it and the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, to speak to it. I would be perfectly...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, is the Minister aware that there is an important legal snag that has been overlooked? European legislation requires that those now being dealt with in Greece should have a right of appeal. That is in the reception directive. Will the Government therefore take steps to get that directive amended?
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, has correctly anticipated the thrust of my response to his amendment. There are of course provisions in the Dublin regulations for uniting refugee families and they are being implemented, albeit very cautiously—I accept that—but this amendment throws caution to the wind. Subsection (1)(a) of the proposed new clause in Amendment 120 provides for...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, the hour is very late. I shall be very brief. I find myself on this occasion in broad agreement with the interventions in this debate. The abuses in Iraq and Syria are repulsive and surely can only amount to genocide. I therefore welcome effective action in respect of Christians and Yazidis in Iraq and Syria. I will just make two practical observations. The first refers to proposed...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, the amendment simply deletes a key requirement in a spousal visa. Noble Lords will remember that the Migration Advisory Committee was invited to make recommendations on what should be a threshold. I take the point that the noble Baroness would not like a threshold at all, but the recommendation was £18,600 as the level at which no income-based benefits were paid. The level at which...
Lord Green of Deddington: My Lords, I very much agree with the thrust of the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire. I think he was absolutely right.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many third country nationals have been transferred to the UK from other EU member states under (1) Article 8, (2) Article 9, and (3) Article 10, of the Dublin Regulations for their asylum cases to be heard by the UK authorities in each of the years for which data are available, and from which EU member state those individuals came.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many asylum seekers have been transferred from the UK to other EU member states under the Dublin Regulations owing to (1) family reasons (Articles 8, 9 and 10), and (2) irregular entry (Article 13.1), in each of the years for which data are available.
Lord Green of Deddington: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the change, if any, in the number of households in the UK with a (1) UK-born, and (2) non-UK-born, Household Reference Person between 2010 and 2015.
