Contributions
783 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillAnd the consequence is that we would require checks in both directions. As the Minister for Independence—did my hon. Friend know that the Scottish Government had a Minister for…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI do not think we can determine birth rate issues through the welfare system. The hon. Gentleman is essentially saying that people are choosing not to have larger families because…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI am tempted to say that Scotland is not a region but a country, but I will not go down that rather juvenile route. The clear point is that the No. 1 priority and mission of this…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI am happy to give way. Can the hon. Gentleman intervene less angrily than he has in the past?25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillIndeed, we are; perhaps the hon. Member for Perth and Kinross-shire (Pete Wishart) should try doing his bit a bit more. [ Interruption. ] There is no need to confess now, Pete.…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillImmigration is wrapped up in a lot of policy areas that are devolved to the Scottish Parliament. The Scottish Government themselves, in Parliament, declared a housing emergency.…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillThe hon. Gentleman should be pleased, because there are only two of them to go down any of the Lobbies; 40% of the Scottish Conservatives are here, and that makes two of them—I…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillCan I just say to my hon. Friend, as someone who has a 12-week-old daughter and a four-and-a-half-year-old daughter, that we are very much—25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillThe flippancy with which SNP Members deal with these relevant and serious issues is there for all to see. I hope that a lot of our non-Scottish colleagues who are here today have…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI very much welcome the intervention. I think it should be a national shame that 10,000 children in Scotland go to bed every night in a place that they cannot call their own home.…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillWe all wish my hon. Friend well, Madam Deputy Speaker. I hope that “wishing him well” goes as far as going to his JustGiving page and throwing him a few quid. My record for 26…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI thank my hon. Friend very much—I hope Hansard heard that. I did say that the attractiveness of Scotland as a place to live and work is down to policy delivery, and let me…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillAbsolutely, and I hope that my hon. Friend would say that this contribution from the Government Dispatch Box is a very good use of the Government’s time.25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillIf my comments fall out of scope, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would be very happy for you to tell me, as you have the right to, and as you do so well; I will then change my remarks.…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI think I have used the debate positively. I have spent a long time talking about our skills agenda, our plan to make work pay, GB Energy, the national wealth fund, economic…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI sat on the Scottish Affairs Committee when it was chaired by the hon. Gentleman and produced one of those reports on migration and depopulation in Scotland—I think it was during…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI agree with my hon. Friend. Look at the money that was wasted for the national care service—again, just another headline in the newspapers that the SNP required in the run-up to…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillI was in the north-east of Scotland yesterday, in Buckie, turning on one of the largest offshore wind farms. Ocean Winds employs 45 to 70 local people from a 40-mile radius from…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillWe should not rerun the Brexit debate in this House, but it is worth acknowledging that the Bill is written in a different way from what the hon. Member for Arbroath and Broughty…25 Apr 2025HANSARDDevolution (Immigration) (Scotland) BillAs I have said throughout this debate, this is a really complex area. We cannot deal with it by just pulling on one lever and with a separate immigration system. We can deal with…25 Apr 2025