Part of the debate – in Westminster Hall at 4:02 pm on 18th November 2020.
I promise to be super brief. I was reading a quote about how cash benefits have been regarded as
“a major pull factor that encourages fraudulent claims”—[Official Report,
Vol. 333, c. 16.]
from asylum seekers. That was from Jack Straw, when he was overseeing this policy as Home Secretary. Does the hon. Member agree that one strength of recognising that times have changed and introducing the right to work is that it would prove to our constituents that asylum seekers are not scroungers, but people with skills valued by British businesses who are here to make a tax-paying contribution, rather than expecting to subsist off the taxpayer?