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Immigration (Work Permits)

As I live next door to a south Asian restaurant in my constituency, I am tempted to stick to the fairly narrow point made by the hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), but we should widen the discussion. We welcome the principle of a points-based system for economic migration. We have been calling for one for some time because we believe that a firm, fair, controlled immigration system is best for people who want to come here and best for people who already live here. The introduction of the new system is an implicit admission that the current system has failed. The Government have no control over our borders and no proper information about the most basic facts and figures. For instance, they thought that about 13,000 people would come here from the new EU member states, but in fact 200,000 come here every year. They also have a history of grand announcements on immigration, such as the plan to remove 30,000 failed asylum seekers a year, which win a day’s headlines but are then quietly dropped. I hope that the new system will be an improvement, but I wish to ask the Secretary of State a few helpful questions. First, what is the cost of setting up and running the system—or at least the current Home Office estimate? Does he agree with his predecessor, who said that there was ““no obvious upper limit”” to immigration into this country? If not, is the new system designed to increase or reduce the numbers coming here to work? Under tier 3 of the system, which applies to low-skilled migration, the document says that there have been concerns that employers should be required to recruit from the domestic labour force first. Do the Government intend to enforce that requirement? At the heart of the system is the skills advisory board, which decides how many people can come in under tiers 2 and 3. Why are the Government only considering the skills aspect, which means that other vital factors, such as the increased need for new houses and extra pressures on public services, will not be taken into account? There is no discussion of those absolutely central issues in the document. Why not? We may know the answer to that question. There is much common ground on the principles. We all want a civilised and credible immigration system, but there are serious questions about the plan. We wish it well, and we hope it does not go the way of previous failed Government immigration policies. This country needs a properly controlled immigration system and we will support measures that genuinely bring that about.